First measurement of the head–tail directional nuclear recoil signature at energies relevant to WIMP dark matter searches

2008/09/10 by S. Burgos, E. Daw, J. Forbes +22 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Particle Detector Development and Performance #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2009.02.003

4 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

arxiv created 2008/09/10 · openalex publication_date 2009/02/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We present first evidence for the so-called Head-Tail asymmetry signature of neutron-induced nuclear recoil tracks at energies down to 1.5 keV/amu using the 1m³ DRIFT-IIc dark matter detector. This regime is appropriate for recoils induced by Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMPs) but one where the differential ionization is poorly understood. We show that the distribution of recoil energies and directions induced here by Cf-252 neutrons matches well that expected from massive WIMPs. The results open a powerful new means of searching for a galactic signature from WIMPs.

Citations

• Track reconstruction and performance of DRIFT directional dark matter detectors using alpha particles

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