The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter

Migdal Collaboration; H.M. Araújo; S.N. Balashov; J.E. Borg; F.M. Brunbauer; C. Cazzaniga; C.D. Frost; F. Garcia; A.C. Kaboth; M. Kastriotou; I. Katsioulas; A. Khazov; H. Kraus; V.A. Kudryavtsev; S. Lilley; A. Lindote; D. Loomba; M.I. Lopes; E. Lopez Asamar; P. Luna Dapica; P.A. Majewski; T. Marley; A.F. Mills; M. Nakhostin; T. Neep; F. Neves; K. Nikolopoulos; E. Oliveri; L. Ropelewski; E. Tilly; V.N. Solovov; T.J. Sumner; J. Tarrant; R. Turnley; M.G.D. van der Grinten; R. Veenhof

doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853

The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter

Migdal Collaboration, H.M. Araújo^*, S.N. Balashov, J.E. Borg, F.M. Brunbauer, C. Cazzaniga, C.D. Frost, F. Garcia, A.C. Kaboth, M. Kastriotou, I. Katsioulas, A. Khazov, H. Kraus, V.A. Kudryavtsev, S. Lilley, A. Lindote, D. Loomba, M.I. Lopes, E. Lopez Asamar, P. Luna DapicaP.A. Majewski^*, T. Marley, A.F. Mills, M. Nakhostin, T. Neep, F. Neves, K. Nikolopoulos, E. Oliveri, L. Ropelewski, E. Tilly, V.N. Solovov, T.J. Sumner, J. Tarrant, R. Turnley, M.G.D. van der Grinten, R. Veenhof

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

We present the Migdal In Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment aiming at the unambiguous observation and study of the so-called Migdal effect induced by fast-neutron scattering. It is hoped that this elusive atomic process can be exploited to enhance the reach of direct dark matter search experiments to lower masses, but it is still lacking experimental confirmation. Our goal is to detect the predicted atomic electron emission which is thought to accompany nuclear scattering with low, but calculable, probability, by deploying an Optical Time Projection Chamber filled with a low-pressure gas based on CF ₄. Initially, pure CF ₄ will be used, and then in mixtures containing other elements employed by leading dark matter search technologies — including noble species, plus Si and Ge. High resolution track images generated by a Gas Electron Multiplier stack, together with timing information from scintillation and ionisation readout, will be used for 3D reconstruction of the characteristic event topology expected for this process — an arrangement of two tracks sharing a common vertex, with one belonging to a Migdal electron and the other to a nuclear recoil. Different energy-loss rate distributions along both tracks will be used as a powerful discrimination tool against background events. In this article we present the design of the experiment, informed by extensive particle and track simulations and detailed estimations of signal and background rates. In pure CF ₄ we expect to observe 8.9 (29.3) Migdal events per calendar day of exposure to an intense D–D (D–T) neutron generator beam at the NILE facility located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). With our nominal assumptions, 5σ median discovery significance can be achieved in under one day with either generator.

Original language	English
Article number	102853
Journal	ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS
Volume	151
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853
Publication status	Published - 23 Apr 2023

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10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853

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Migdal Collaboration, Araújo, H. M., Balashov, S. N., Borg, J. E., Brunbauer, F. M., Cazzaniga, C., Frost, C. D., Garcia, F., Kaboth, A. C., Kastriotou, M., Katsioulas, I., Khazov, A., Kraus, H., Kudryavtsev, V. A., Lilley, S., Lindote, A., Loomba, D., Lopes, M. I., Lopez Asamar, E., ... Veenhof, R. (2023). The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter. ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS, 151, Article 102853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853

@article{f8950acf1c4f4cc5b2ad39bc7bb07c7d,

title = "The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter",

abstract = "We present the Migdal In Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment aiming at the unambiguous observation and study of the so-called Migdal effect induced by fast-neutron scattering. It is hoped that this elusive atomic process can be exploited to enhance the reach of direct dark matter search experiments to lower masses, but it is still lacking experimental confirmation. Our goal is to detect the predicted atomic electron emission which is thought to accompany nuclear scattering with low, but calculable, probability, by deploying an Optical Time Projection Chamber filled with a low-pressure gas based on CF 4. Initially, pure CF 4 will be used, and then in mixtures containing other elements employed by leading dark matter search technologies — including noble species, plus Si and Ge. High resolution track images generated by a Gas Electron Multiplier stack, together with timing information from scintillation and ionisation readout, will be used for 3D reconstruction of the characteristic event topology expected for this process — an arrangement of two tracks sharing a common vertex, with one belonging to a Migdal electron and the other to a nuclear recoil. Different energy-loss rate distributions along both tracks will be used as a powerful discrimination tool against background events. In this article we present the design of the experiment, informed by extensive particle and track simulations and detailed estimations of signal and background rates. In pure CF 4 we expect to observe 8.9 (29.3) Migdal events per calendar day of exposure to an intense D–D (D–T) neutron generator beam at the NILE facility located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). With our nominal assumptions, 5σ median discovery significance can be achieved in under one day with either generator.",

author = "{Migdal Collaboration} and Christopher McCabe and H.M. Ara{\'u}jo and S.N. Balashov and J.E. Borg and F.M. Brunbauer and C. Cazzaniga and C.D. Frost and F. Garcia and A.C. Kaboth and M. Kastriotou and I. Katsioulas and A. Khazov and H. Kraus and V.A. Kudryavtsev and S. Lilley and A. Lindote and D. Loomba and M.I. Lopes and {Lopez Asamar}, E. and {Luna Dapica}, P. and P.A. Majewski and T. Marley and A.F. Mills and M. Nakhostin and T. Neep and F. Neves and K. Nikolopoulos and E. Oliveri and L. Ropelewski and E. Tilly and V.N. Solovov and T.J. Sumner and J. Tarrant and R. Turnley and {van der Grinten}, M.G.D. and R. Veenhof",

note = "Funding Information: This work has been supported by the UKRI's Science & Technology Facilities Council through the Xenon Futures R&D programme (awards ST/T005823/1, ST/T005882/1, ST/V001833/1, ST/V001876/1), Consolidated Grants (ST/S000739/1, ST/T000759/1), CM's Ernest Rutherford Fellowship (ST/N004663/1) and TM's PhD scholarship (ST/ T505894/1); by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, under Award Number DE-SC0022357; by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under award number PTDC/FIS-PAR/2831/2020; and by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie grant agreement No. 841261 (DarkSphere) and No. 101026519 (GaGARin). ELA acknowledges the support from Spanish grant CA3/RSUE/2021-00827, funded by Ministerio de Universidades, Plan de Recuperacion, Transformacion y Resiliencia, and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid . We are grateful to the Particle Physics Department at RAL for significant additional support which made this project possible. Thanks are also due to the CERN RD51 collaboration for their support through Common Project funds, hardware tests and training, and useful discussions. We would also like to thank the ISIS facility for technical assistance and for hosting this experiment. We thank Master's students E. Brookes (RHUL) and L. Shanahan (Imperial), as well as summer students M. Lau and I. Andreou (Imperial), E. Zammit-Lonardelli, M. Collier, C. Jolly and M. Handley (RAL) for their contributions. Thanks are also due to D. Parker (Imperial HEP Electronics Workshop). We are grateful to S. Biagi (U. Liverpool) for his assistance with Degrad; and to P. Cox, M. Dolan and H. Quiney (U. Melbourne) for discussions on the atomic theory underlying the Migdal effect. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. Funding Information: This work has been supported by the UKRI{\textquoteright}s Science & Technology Facilities Council through the Xenon Futures R&D programme (awards ST/T005823/1, ST/T005882/1, ST/V001833/1, ST/V001876/1), Consolidated Grants ( ST/S000739/1 , ST/T000759/1 ), CM{\textquoteright}s Ernest Rutherford Fellowship ( ST/N004663/1 ) and TM{\textquoteright}s PhD scholarship ( ST/ T505894/1 ); by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics , under Award Number DE-SC0022357 ; by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under award number PTDC/FIS-PAR/2831/2020 ; and by the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie grant agreement No. 841261 (DarkSphere) and No. 101026519 (GaGARin). ELA acknowledges the support from Spanish grant CA3/RSUE/2021-00827 , funded by Ministerio de Universidades , Plan de Recuperacion , Transformacion Resiliencia , and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid . We are grateful to the Particle Physics Department at RAL for significant additional support which made this project possible. Thanks are also due to the CERN RD51 collaboration for their support through Common Project funds, hardware tests and training, and useful discussions. We would also like to thank the ISIS facility for technical assistance and for hosting this experiment. We thank Master{\textquoteright}s students E. Brookes (RHUL) and L. Shanahan (Imperial), as well as summer students M. Lau and I. Andreou (Imperial), E. Zammit-Lonardelli, M. Collier, C. Jolly and M. Handley (RAL) for their contributions. Thanks are also due to D. Parker (Imperial HEP Electronics Workshop). We are grateful to S. Biagi (U. Liverpool) for his assistance with Degrad; and to P. Cox, M. Dolan and H. Quiney (U. Melbourne) for discussions on the atomic theory underlying the Migdal effect. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s)",

year = "2023",

month = apr,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853",

language = "English",

volume = "151",

journal = "ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS",

issn = "0927-6505",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

Migdal Collaboration, Araújo, HM, Balashov, SN, Borg, JE, Brunbauer, FM, Cazzaniga, C, Frost, CD, Garcia, F, Kaboth, AC, Kastriotou, M, Katsioulas, I, Khazov, A, Kraus, H, Kudryavtsev, VA, Lilley, S, Lindote, A, Loomba, D, Lopes, MI, Lopez Asamar, E, Luna Dapica, P, Majewski, PA, Marley, T, Mills, AF, Nakhostin, M, Neep, T, Neves, F, Nikolopoulos, K, Oliveri, E, Ropelewski, L, Tilly, E, Solovov, VN, Sumner, TJ, Tarrant, J, Turnley, R, van der Grinten, MGD & Veenhof, R 2023, 'The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter', ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS, vol. 151, 102853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853

TY - JOUR

T1 - The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter

AU - Migdal Collaboration

AU - McCabe, Christopher

AU - Araújo, H.M.

AU - Balashov, S.N.

AU - Borg, J.E.

AU - Brunbauer, F.M.

AU - Cazzaniga, C.

AU - Frost, C.D.

AU - Garcia, F.

AU - Kaboth, A.C.

AU - Kastriotou, M.

AU - Katsioulas, I.

AU - Khazov, A.

AU - Kraus, H.

AU - Kudryavtsev, V.A.

AU - Lilley, S.

AU - Lindote, A.

AU - Loomba, D.

AU - Lopes, M.I.

AU - Lopez Asamar, E.

AU - Luna Dapica, P.

AU - Majewski, P.A.

AU - Marley, T.

AU - Mills, A.F.

AU - Nakhostin, M.

AU - Neep, T.

AU - Neves, F.

AU - Nikolopoulos, K.

AU - Oliveri, E.

AU - Ropelewski, L.

AU - Tilly, E.

AU - Solovov, V.N.

AU - Sumner, T.J.

AU - Tarrant, J.

AU - Turnley, R.

AU - van der Grinten, M.G.D.

AU - Veenhof, R.

N1 - Funding Information: This work has been supported by the UKRI's Science & Technology Facilities Council through the Xenon Futures R&D programme (awards ST/T005823/1, ST/T005882/1, ST/V001833/1, ST/V001876/1), Consolidated Grants (ST/S000739/1, ST/T000759/1), CM's Ernest Rutherford Fellowship (ST/N004663/1) and TM's PhD scholarship (ST/ T505894/1); by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics, under Award Number DE-SC0022357; by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under award number PTDC/FIS-PAR/2831/2020; and by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 841261 (DarkSphere) and No. 101026519 (GaGARin). ELA acknowledges the support from Spanish grant CA3/RSUE/2021-00827, funded by Ministerio de Universidades, Plan de Recuperacion, Transformacion y Resiliencia, and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid . We are grateful to the Particle Physics Department at RAL for significant additional support which made this project possible. Thanks are also due to the CERN RD51 collaboration for their support through Common Project funds, hardware tests and training, and useful discussions. We would also like to thank the ISIS facility for technical assistance and for hosting this experiment. We thank Master's students E. Brookes (RHUL) and L. Shanahan (Imperial), as well as summer students M. Lau and I. Andreou (Imperial), E. Zammit-Lonardelli, M. Collier, C. Jolly and M. Handley (RAL) for their contributions. Thanks are also due to D. Parker (Imperial HEP Electronics Workshop). We are grateful to S. Biagi (U. Liverpool) for his assistance with Degrad; and to P. Cox, M. Dolan and H. Quiney (U. Melbourne) for discussions on the atomic theory underlying the Migdal effect. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. Funding Information: This work has been supported by the UKRI’s Science & Technology Facilities Council through the Xenon Futures R&D programme (awards ST/T005823/1, ST/T005882/1, ST/V001833/1, ST/V001876/1), Consolidated Grants ( ST/S000739/1 , ST/T000759/1 ), CM’s Ernest Rutherford Fellowship ( ST/N004663/1 ) and TM’s PhD scholarship ( ST/ T505894/1 ); by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics , under Award Number DE-SC0022357 ; by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under award number PTDC/FIS-PAR/2831/2020 ; and by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 841261 (DarkSphere) and No. 101026519 (GaGARin). ELA acknowledges the support from Spanish grant CA3/RSUE/2021-00827 , funded by Ministerio de Universidades , Plan de Recuperacion , Transformacion Resiliencia , and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid . We are grateful to the Particle Physics Department at RAL for significant additional support which made this project possible. Thanks are also due to the CERN RD51 collaboration for their support through Common Project funds, hardware tests and training, and useful discussions. We would also like to thank the ISIS facility for technical assistance and for hosting this experiment. We thank Master’s students E. Brookes (RHUL) and L. Shanahan (Imperial), as well as summer students M. Lau and I. Andreou (Imperial), E. Zammit-Lonardelli, M. Collier, C. Jolly and M. Handley (RAL) for their contributions. Thanks are also due to D. Parker (Imperial HEP Electronics Workshop). We are grateful to S. Biagi (U. Liverpool) for his assistance with Degrad; and to P. Cox, M. Dolan and H. Quiney (U. Melbourne) for discussions on the atomic theory underlying the Migdal effect. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

PY - 2023/4/23

Y1 - 2023/4/23

N2 - We present the Migdal In Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment aiming at the unambiguous observation and study of the so-called Migdal effect induced by fast-neutron scattering. It is hoped that this elusive atomic process can be exploited to enhance the reach of direct dark matter search experiments to lower masses, but it is still lacking experimental confirmation. Our goal is to detect the predicted atomic electron emission which is thought to accompany nuclear scattering with low, but calculable, probability, by deploying an Optical Time Projection Chamber filled with a low-pressure gas based on CF 4. Initially, pure CF 4 will be used, and then in mixtures containing other elements employed by leading dark matter search technologies — including noble species, plus Si and Ge. High resolution track images generated by a Gas Electron Multiplier stack, together with timing information from scintillation and ionisation readout, will be used for 3D reconstruction of the characteristic event topology expected for this process — an arrangement of two tracks sharing a common vertex, with one belonging to a Migdal electron and the other to a nuclear recoil. Different energy-loss rate distributions along both tracks will be used as a powerful discrimination tool against background events. In this article we present the design of the experiment, informed by extensive particle and track simulations and detailed estimations of signal and background rates. In pure CF 4 we expect to observe 8.9 (29.3) Migdal events per calendar day of exposure to an intense D–D (D–T) neutron generator beam at the NILE facility located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). With our nominal assumptions, 5σ median discovery significance can be achieved in under one day with either generator.

AB - We present the Migdal In Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment aiming at the unambiguous observation and study of the so-called Migdal effect induced by fast-neutron scattering. It is hoped that this elusive atomic process can be exploited to enhance the reach of direct dark matter search experiments to lower masses, but it is still lacking experimental confirmation. Our goal is to detect the predicted atomic electron emission which is thought to accompany nuclear scattering with low, but calculable, probability, by deploying an Optical Time Projection Chamber filled with a low-pressure gas based on CF 4. Initially, pure CF 4 will be used, and then in mixtures containing other elements employed by leading dark matter search technologies — including noble species, plus Si and Ge. High resolution track images generated by a Gas Electron Multiplier stack, together with timing information from scintillation and ionisation readout, will be used for 3D reconstruction of the characteristic event topology expected for this process — an arrangement of two tracks sharing a common vertex, with one belonging to a Migdal electron and the other to a nuclear recoil. Different energy-loss rate distributions along both tracks will be used as a powerful discrimination tool against background events. In this article we present the design of the experiment, informed by extensive particle and track simulations and detailed estimations of signal and background rates. In pure CF 4 we expect to observe 8.9 (29.3) Migdal events per calendar day of exposure to an intense D–D (D–T) neutron generator beam at the NILE facility located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). With our nominal assumptions, 5σ median discovery significance can be achieved in under one day with either generator.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85154062173&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853

DO - 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2023.102853

M3 - Article

SN - 0927-6505

VL - 151

JO - ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS

JF - ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS

M1 - 102853

ER -

The MIGDAL experiment: Measuring a rare atomic process to aid the search for dark matter

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