Dark matter search in particle physics and terahertz engineering – Integration of radiation detection and radio wave measurement

Project Gist

Dark matter search in particle physics and terahertz engineering – Integration of radiation detection and radio wave measurement

Keywords

Dark matter, Dark Photon, High Energy Physics, Cosmic Microwave Background, Millimeter-wave

Background and Purpose

We aim to search for/ find the Dark Matter (DM), which fills our galaxy with more than 5 times of the total amount of the normal matter, with combining the methods for the particle physics and for the cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. In the particle physics, the lightest supersymmetric particles have been best candidates for the DM, however we have not yet discovered such particles in the LHC experiment. In order to extend the mass range, we can apply the method to measure CMB, i.e. the micro/milli-meter wave techniques. Such ultra-light dark matter, called Dark Photon, will convert to the normal photons at a subphase of metals and we can catch such power peak in the spectrum analyzer.

Project Achievements

We search for the dark photon cold dark matter in the mass range 74–110μeV/c2, establishing a new method with the milli-meter wave measurement technique by the new research group supported by the SPIRITS project. We found no signal, allowing us to set an upper bound on the coupling constant between normal and dark photons, χ < (0.3–2.0) × 10−10 (95% C.L.), which is the most stringent constraint to date.
We developed new methods to improve the sensitivity on the dark matter originated from SUSY particles decay, for the coming high-liminosity LHC.

Future Prospects

We will search for dark photons with a wider frequency band using the established method. On the particle physics side, we will develop methods for dark matter searches using detectors placed 200 meters away from the LHC proton collision point. In addition, we will develop a new system for the high-luminosity LHC experiment, which will start in 2029.

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Principal Investigator