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DOE OSTI2024

Dissipative Dark Substructure: The Consequences of Atomic Dark Matter on Milky Way Analog Subhalos

Using cosmological hydrodynamical zoom-in simulations, we explore the properties of subhalos in Milky Way analogs that contain a subcomponent of atomic dark matter (ADM). ADM differs from cold dark matter (CDM) due to the presence of self-interactions that lead to energy dissipation, analogous to standard model baryons. This model can arise in dark sectors that are natural and theoretically motivated extensions to the standard model. The simulations used in this work were carried out using GIZMO and utilize the FIRE-2 galaxy formation physics in the standard model baryonic sector. For the parameter points we consider, the ADM gas cools efficiently, allowing it to collapse to the center of subhalos. This increases a subhalo's central density and affects its orbit, with more subhalos surviving small pericentric passages. The subset of subhalos that host satellite galaxies have cuspier density profiles and smaller stellar half-mass radii relative to CDM. The entire population of dwarf galaxies produced in the ADM simulations is more compact than those seen in CDM simulations, unable to reproduce the entire diversity of observed dwarf galaxy structures. Additionally, we also identify a population of highly compact subhalos that consist nearly entirely of ADM and form in the central region of the host, where they can leave distinctive imprints in the baryonic disk. This work presents the first detailed exploration of subhalo properties in a strongly dissipative dark matter scenario, providing intuition for how other regions of ADM parameter space, as well as other dark sector models, would impact galactic-scale observables.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Aggressively Dissipative Dark Dwarfs: The Effects of Atomic Dark Matter on the Inner Densities of Isolated Dwarf Galaxies

We present the first suite of cosmological hydrodynamical zoom-in simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies for a dark sector that consists of cold dark matter and a strongly dissipative subcomponent. The simulations are implemented in GIZMO and include standard baryons following the FIRE-2 galaxy formation physics model. The dissipative dark matter is modeled as atomic dark matter (aDM), which forms a dark hydrogen gas that cools in direct analogy to the Standard Model. Our suite includes seven different simulations of ∼10 10 M ⊙ systems that vary over the aDM microphysics and the dwarf’s evolutionary history. We identify a region of aDM parameter space where the cooling rate is aggressive and the resulting halo density profile is universal. In this regime, the aDM gas cools rapidly at high redshifts, and only a small fraction survives in the form of a central dark gas disk; the majority collapses centrally into collisionless dark “clumps,” which are clusters of subresolution dark compact objects. These dark clumps rapidly equilibrate in the inner galaxy, resulting in an approximately isothermal distribution that can be modeled with a simple fitting function. Even when only a small fraction (∼5%) of the total dark matter is strongly dissipative, the central densities of classical dwarf galaxies can be enhanced by over an order of magnitude, providing a sharp prediction for observations.

cold dark matter↗
DOE OSTI2024

Gravitational waves from more attractive dark binaries

Abstract The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) has led to a deeper understanding of binaries of ordinary astrophysical objects, including neutron stars and black holes. In this work, we point out that binary systems may also exist in a dark sector with astrophysical-mass macroscopic dark matter. These “dark binaries”, when coupled to an additional attractive long-range dark force, may generate a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) with a characteristic spectrum different from ordinary binaries. We find that the SGWB from planet-mass dark binaries is detectable by space- and ground-based GW observatories. The contribution to the SGWB today is smaller from binaries that merge before recombination than after, avoiding constraints on extra radiation degrees of freedom while potentially leaving a detectable GW signal at high frequencies up to tens of GHz.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

The DAMIC-M Low Background Chamber

The DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane (DAMIC-M) experiment isdesigned to search for light dark matter (m$_{χ}$ < 10 GeV/c$^{2}$)at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) in France. DAMIC-Mwill use skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) as a kg-scale activedetector target. Its single-electron resolution will enable eV-scaleenergy thresholds and thus world-leading sensitivity to a range ofhidden sector dark matter candidates. A DAMIC-M prototype, the LowBackground Chamber (LBC), has been taking data at LSM since2022. The LBC provides a low-background environment, which has beenused to characterize skipper CCDs, study dark current, and measureradiopurity of materials planned for DAMIC-M. It also allows testingof various subsystems like readout electronics, data acquisitionsoftware, and slow control. This paper describes the technicaldesign and performance of the LBC.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

SEARCHING FOR MESONIC DARK MATTER WITH THE HEAVY PHOTON SEARCH EXPERIMENT

Several highly-sensitive astrophysical experiments over the past couple of decades have demonstrated that the current abundance of visible Standard Model matter cannot explain galactic rotation curves, the expansion history of the Universe, or the apparent warping of light in empty space. Instead, one finds strong agreement with this body of experimental results upon positing the existence of an invisible particulate field, dark matter. Namely, a cold, weakly interacting dark matter component can explain all these phenomena. A number of accelerator-based experiments have been developed to search for the weak couplings/interactions of these particles, many of them concentrating on particle models with masses of tens to thousands of GeV. A relatively new, well-motivated model is a dark sector coupled to the Standard Model via a dark photon. The current abundance of dark matter can be obtained if one assumes that dark matter is coupled to light by a MeV to GeV particle with a U(1) symmetry. The parameter space of these models remains largely unexplored because they are difficult to probe experimentally. In this thesis, I analyze data from the Heavy Photon Search (HPS) detector, whose two detector halves closely surround the electron beam, providing acceptance to far-forward boosted interactions. This forward acceptance to highly boosted particles yields unprecedented sensitivity to MeV-scale invariant masses. I exhaustively optimize the offline reconstruction of the HPS detector. Each reconstruction object, from Silicon Vertex Tracker hits to tracks, is studied to maximize acceptance of dark matter events. I then use the 2021 run data to search for one model of dark-photon-mediated matter, the Strongly Interacting Massive Particle (SIMP). SIMP models provide self-interacting dark matter candidates that can form bound states resembling dark mesons. HPS can detect SIMPs through the decay of a dark vector boson (either a dark ¿ or ¿) into e+e- pairs. I obtain exclusion contours for SIMPs using both an optimized cuts-based selection and a machine-learning-based selection, advancing our knowledge of the nature of dark matter.

O'Dwyer, Rory [Stanford Univ., CA (United States).↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dynamical Heating from Dark Compact Objects and Axion Minihalos: Implications for the 21-cm Signal

The temperature of baryons at the end of the cosmic dark ages can be inferred from observations of the 21-cm hyperfine transition in neutral hydrogen. Any energy injection from the dark sector can therefore be detected through these measurements. Dark compact objects and dark-matter substructures can modify the baryon temperature by transferring heat via dynamical friction. In this work, we evaluate the prospects for detecting dynamical friction-induced heating from dark compact objects with a mass in the range $10^2 M_{\odot}$ to $10^5 M_{\odot}$, as well as from axion minihalos, using upcoming 21-cm experiments. We find that both the 21-cm global signal and power-spectrum measurements will be sensitive to dark compact objects that constitute about 10% of the dark matter, and will substantially improve our sensitivity to axion-like particles with masses in the range $10^{-18}$ eV to $10^{-9}$ eV.

Bhalla, Badal [Oklahoma U.] (ORCID:000000030488664↗
DOE OSTI2025

Entanglement maximization and mirror symmetry in two-Higgs-doublet models

We consider 2-to-2 scatterings of Higgs bosons in a CP-conserving two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) and study the implication of maximizing the entanglement in the flavor space, where the two doublets Φ a , a = 1, 2, can be viewed as a qubit: Φ 1 = |0⟩ and Φ 2 = |1⟩. More specifically, we compute the scattering amplitudes for Φ a Φ b → Φ c Φ d and require the outgoing flavor entanglement to be maximal for a full product basis such as the computational basis, which consists of {|00⟩, |01⟩, |10⟩, |11⟩}. In the unbroken phase and turning off the gauge interactions, entanglement maximization results in the appearance of an U(2) × U(2) global symmetry among the quartic couplings, which in general is broken softly by the mass terms. Interestingly, once the Higgs bosons acquire vacuum expectation values, maximal entanglement enforces an exact U(2) × U(2) symmetry, which is spontaneously broken to U(1) × U(1). As a byproduct, this gives rise to Higgs alignment as well as to the existence of 6 massless Nambu-Goldstone bosons. The U(2) × U(2) symmetry can be gauged to lift the massless Goldstones, while maintaining maximal entanglement demands the presence of a discrete Z 2 symmetry interchanging the two gauge sectors. The model is custodially invariant in the scalar sector, and the inclusion of fermions requires a mirror dark sector, related to the standard one by the Z 2 symmetry.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Boosted Dark Matter Search with the ICARUS Detector at the Gran Sasso Underground National Laboratory

The quest to discover dark matter is one of the most pressing topics in modern physics. Evidence of gravitational anomalies is present at different cosmological scales, spanning the stability and rotation of galaxies to the overall density profile of the entire observable Universe. Due to the discrepancy between the mass measured and the gravitational influence on the mass, if General Relativity is to correctly describe gravity at different scales, extra electromagnetically invisible matter termed dark matter must exist. In recent decades, many experiments have been performed to detect dark matter with masses that span many orders of magnitude, from Mass Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) with masses several orders of magnitude that of our sun to very light particles on the order of $\sim\mu$eV. However, experiments have only been able to constrain the possible parameter space of dark matter models and, in general, probe dark matter models with single constituent dark matter like Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). In the Boosted Dark Matter (BDM) paradigm, there are four particles in the dark sector: $\chi_0$, $\chi_1$, $\chi_2$, and the dark photon $X$. WIMP-like properties are ascribed to $\chi_0$ to describe the physics of the gravitational anomalies, while relativistic components are assigned to $\chi_1$ and $\chi_2$. The inelastic boosted dark matter (iBDM) channel $\chi_1 e^-\rightarrow \chi_2 e^-\rightarrow \chi_1 Xe^-\rightarrow \chi_1 (e^+ e^- ) e^-$, where $\chi_2$ is an excited state of $\chi_1$, has a unique signature that is distinguishable from neutrino interactions, making neutrino experiments a viable search environment for BDM. Using data collected by the ICARUS collaboration with ICARUS T-600 Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) during its operation at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS), the first-ever LArTPC dark matter search using the ICARUS detector is presented. With a total detector exposure of 0.13 kton$\cdot$year, a total of 4 iBDM candidate events were identified by several stages of data scanning. All were rejected due to defined selection criteria and a wire-by-wire $dE/dx$ evaluation, giving a null result. Exclusion plots at 90\%C.L. for the dark photon ($m_X$, $\epsilon$) parameter space for fixed ($m_0,m_1,m_2$) DM mass sets are presented, setting new limits on the dark photon visible decay parameter space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

LDMX -- The Light Dark Matter eXperiment

LDMX, The Light Dark Matter eXperiment, is a missing momentum search for hidden sector dark matter in the MeV to GeV range. It will be located at SLAC in End Station A, and will employ an 8 GeV electron beam parasitically derived from the SLAC LCLS-II accelerator. LDMX promises to expand the experimental sensitivity of these searches by between one and two orders of magnitude depending on the model. It also has sensitivity in visible ALP searches as well as providing unique data on electron-nucleon interactions.

Appert, Stephen [Caltech]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Measurement of the LCLS-II dark current using the LDMX Trigger Scintillator Prototype

The Light Dark Matter eXperiment (LDMX) is a proposed fixed-target missing momentum search for sub-GeV thermal relic dark matter. LDMX aims to probe thermal dark matter targets with 1016 electrons on target. Such an approach requires a high-repetition rate, low-current beam, with an average of one electron on target per event. These requirements are well-suited to the DArk Sector Experiments at LCLS-II (DASEL) facility, which will take advantage of the unused RF buckets between LCLS-II bunches to produce a well-defined low-current beam with a 26.9 ns bunch spacing. This document describes the results of a measurement of dark current in the Sector 30 transfer line (S30XL) of the LCLS-II beam, using a prototype of the LDMX trigger scintillator (TS) subsystem.

Berzin, Elizabeth [SLAC]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Cosmic stability of dark matter from Pauli blocking

Why does dark matter (DM) live longer than the age of the Universe? Here we study a novel sub-eV scalar DM candidate whose stability is due to the Pauli exclusion of its fermionic decay products. We analyze the stability of the DM condensate against decays, scatterings (i.e., evaporation), and parametric resonance, delineating the viable parameter regions in which DM is cosmologically stable. In a minimal scenario in which the scalar DM decays to a pair of new exotic fermions, we find that scattering can populate an interacting thermal dark sector component to energies far above the DM mass. This self-interacting dark radiation may potentially alleviate the Hubble tensions. Furthermore, our scenario can be probed through precise measurements of the halo-mass function or the masses of dwarf spheroidal galaxies since scattering prevents the DM from becoming too dense. On the other hand, if the lightest neutrino stabilizes the DM, the cosmic neutrino background ( C ν B ) can be significantly altered from the Lambda cold dark matter prediction and thus be probed in the future by C ν B detection experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Batell, Brian↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cosmic-ray boosted inelastic dark matter from neutrino-emitting active galactic nuclei

Cosmic rays may scatter off dark matter particles in active galactic nuclei, where both the densities of cosmic rays and dark matter are expected to be very large. These scatterings could yield a flux of boosted dark matter particles directly detectable on Earth, which enhances the sensitivity of dark matter direct detection and neutrino experiments to light and inelastic dark matter models. Here we calculate the cosmic-ray boosted dark matter flux from the neutrino-emitting active galactic nuclei, NGC 1068 and TXS 0506+056, by considering realistic cosmic-ray distributions, deep inelastic scatterings, and mass splittings in the dark sector. From this we derive novel bounds from these sources on light and/or inelastic dark matter models with Super-K and XENONnT. We find that cosmic-ray boosted dark matter from neutrino-emitting active galactic nuclei can test regions of parameter space favored to reproduce the observed relic abundance of dark matter in the Universe, and that are otherwise experimentally inaccessible.

Gustafson, R. Andrew [Virginia Tech.; KEK, Tsukuba↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optimization of the BDX experiment for Light Dark Matter searches at JLab

The Light Dark Matter (LDM) hypothesis postulates the existence of a new class of sub GeV particles, neutral under Standard Model (SM) interactions. In its simplest form, LDM consists of particles ¿ with masses below 1 GeV/c2, interacting with SM particles via a new force mediated by a light, spin-1 boson A0, commonly referred to as “Dark Photon”. This framework envisions a distinct “Dark Sector” with its own particles and interactions, offering a theoretically well motivated explanation for Dark Matter, consistent with astrophysical observations and a thermal production mechanism. The Beam Dump eXperiment (BDX) is an approved experiment at Jefferson Lab designed to search for Light Dark Matter. BDX will utilize an 11 GeV electron beam impinging on a thick target to produce a forward-boosted secondary beam of Light Dark Matter particles, which will then be detected by a dedicated downstream detector. Approved in 2018, BDX is expected to be commissioned in 2026 and run in 2027-2029. My thesis focuses on the preparatory work to deploy the BDX experiment. The detector design has been optimized to balance practicality with enhanced Light Dark Matter detection capabilities. Extensive characterization of detector components has been performed to ensure a precise understanding of detector response. A custom Monte Carlo framework has been developed to simulate Light Dark Matter signal and explore various theoretical models of interest. Additionally, a comprehensive data analysis framework has been developed to maximize the experiment sensitivity to Light Dark Matter, with optimizations based on expected detector performance. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to optimize BDX as a flagship experiment in Light Dark Matter searches, enabling it to probe different Dark Matter models.

Spreafico, M. [Univ. of Genova (Italy)]↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Light Dark Matter Experiment (LDMX)

The constituents of dark matter are still unknown, and the viable possibilities span a very large mass range. Specific scenarios for the origin of dark matter sharpen the focus to within about an MeV to 100 TeV. Most of the stable constituents of known matter have masses in this lower range, and a thermal origin for dark matter works in a simple and predictive manner in this mass range as well. If there is an interaction between light DM and ordinary matter, as there must be in the case of a thermal origin, then there necessarily is a production mechanism in accelerator-based experiments. The Light Dark Matter eXperiment (LDMX) is a planned electron-beam fixed-target missing-momentum experiment at SLAC that has unique sensitivity to light DM in the sub-GeV mass range. Although optimized for a missing momentum technique, LDMX is effectively a fully instrumented beam dump experiment, making it possible to search for visibly decaying signatures of dark sector particles. This would provide another outlet for LDMX to probe complementary regions of dark matter phase space for a variety of models. This contribution will give an overview of the theoretical motivation for LDMX, the main experimental challenges and how they are addressed, as well as projected sensitivities in comparison to other experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Search for new particles in events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson and large missing transverse momentum at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for new particles produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV that result in final states comprising a massive vector ( W or Z ) boson that decays hadronically and large missing transverse momentum. The data sample was collected with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider from 2015 to 2018 and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb - 1 . No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed. Model-independent 95% confidence-level limits on the visible cross-section that range from 0.3 fb to 79.5 fb are obtained for non-Standard-Model processes. Exclusion limits are also presented for models with axion-like particles, for two-Higgs-doublet models with a pseudo-scalar mediator between the Standard Model and the dark sector, for the invisible decay of the Higgs boson and for pair-produced weakly interacting dark matter candidates.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Topological freeze-out by semi-annihilation

We point out that a QCD-like dark sector can be coupled to the Standard Model by gauging the topological Skyrme current, which measures the dark baryon number in the infrared, to give a technically natural model for dark matter. This coupling allows for a semi-annihilation process χχ → χX μ , where X μ is the gauge boson mediator and χ a dark pion field, which plays the dominant role in setting the dark matter relic abundance. The topological interaction is purely p-wave and so free from indirect detection constraints. We show that the dark matter pion mass needs to be in the range 10 MeV ≲ m χ ≲ 1 TeV; towards the lighter end of this range, there can moreover be significant self-interactions. We discuss prospects for probing this scenario at collider experiments, ranging from the LHC to low-energy e + e − colliders, future Higgs factories, and beam-dump experiments.

Models for Dark Matter↗
DOE OSTI2024

Asymmetric reheating via inverse symmetry breaking

Asymmetric reheating is a generic requirement for models of dark sectors with light species, but its implementation is usually in tension with unique phenomenologies otherwise possible in compelling theories containing dark copies of the Standard Model. We present a simple module to implement asymmetric reheating during a Z 2 -breaking phase above some critical temperature. This reinvigorates the possibility of an exactly degenerate mirror sector and the striking phenomenology of composite particles oscillating into their mirror counterparts. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploring dark forces with multimessenger studies of extreme mass ratio inspirals

Abstract The exploration of dark sector interactions via gravitational waves (GWs) from binary inspirals has been a subject of recent interest. We study dark forces using extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), pointing out two issues of interest. Firstly, the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of the EMRI, which sets the characteristic length scale of the system and hence the dark force range to which it exhibits enhanced sensitivity, probes force mediator masses that complement those studied with supermassive black hole (SMBH) or neutron star binaries. The LISA mission (the proposedμAres detector) will probe mediators with massesm V ∼ 10 -16 eV (m V ∼ 10 -18 eV), corresponding to ISCOs of 10 6 M ⊙ (10 8 M ⊙ ) central SMBHs. Secondly, while the sensitivity to dark couplings is typically limited by the uncertainty in the binary component masses, independent mass measurements of the central SMBH through reverberation mapping campaigns or the motion of dynamical tracers enable one to break this degeneracy. Our results therefore highlight the necessity for coordinated studies, loosely referred to as “multimessenger”, between futureμHz- mHz GW observatories and ongoing and forthcoming SMBH mass measurement campaigns, including OzDES-RM, SDSS-RM, and SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗