Search

We consider the scattering of low-mass halo dark-matter particles in the hot plasma of the Sun, focusing on dark matter that interact with ordinary matter through a dark-photon mediator. The resulting ``solar-reflected'' dark matter (SRDM) component contains high-velocity particles, which significantly extend the sensitivity of terrestrial direct-detection experiments to sub-MeV dark-matter masses. We use a detailed Monte-Carlo simulation to model the propagation and scattering of dark-matter particles in the Sun, including thermal effects, with special emphasis on ultralight dark-photon mediators. We study the properties of the SRDM flux, obtain exclusion limits from various direct-detection experiments, and provide projections for future experiments, focusing especially on those with silicon and xenon targets. We find that proposed future experiments with xenon and silicon targets can probe the entire ``freeze-in benchmark,'' in which dark matter is coupled to an ultralight dark photon, including dark-matter masses as low as $\mathcal{O}$(keV). Our simulations and SRDM fluxes are publicly available., Comment: 40 pages, 23 figures including appendices and references

If present in the early universe, primordial black holes (PBHs) will accrete matter and emit high-energy photons, altering the statistical properties of the {Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)}. This mechanism has been used to constrain the fraction of dark matter that is in the form of PBHs to be much smaller than unity for PBH masses well above one solar mass. Moreover, the presence of dense dark matter mini-halos around the PBHs has been used to set even more stringent constraints, as these would boost the accretion rates. In this work, we critically revisit CMB constraints on PBHs taking into account the role of the local ionization of the gas around them. We discuss how the local increase in temperature around PBHs can prevent the dark matter mini-halos from strongly enhancing the accretion process, in some cases significantly weakening previously derived CMB constraints. We explore in detail the key ingredients of the CMB bound and derive a conservative limit on the cosmological abundance of massive PBHs., Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures

Dissipation engineering offers a powerful tool for quantum technologies. Recently, new superconducting devices demonstrated an engineered two-photon dissipation rate exceeding all other relevant timescales. In particular, they have proven most useful to prevent transitions between the logical states $|\pm\alpha\rangle$ of a cat qubit. Here, we present three key applications of strong two-photon dissipation for quantum measurement and control, beyond cat qubit stabilization. Firstly, we demonstrate its efficacy in overcoming limitations encountered in Wigner tomography at high photon numbers. Secondly, we showcase its potential for realizing universal gates on cat qubits, exploiting the coherent mapping between cat qubit states and superpositions of 0 and 1 photons. Finally, we harness the transient dynamics of a cat state under two-photon dissipation to prepare squeezed cat states with a squeezing factor exceeding 3.8 dB., Comment: Main text and supplementary materials. Three videos can be downloaded as ancillary files

Solid-state detectors with a low energy threshold have several applications, including in direct-detection searches of non-relativistic halo dark-matter particles with sub-GeV masses. Moreover, when searching for relativistic or quasi-relativistic beyond-the-Standard-Model particles (i.e., $v/c\gtrsim 0.01$) that have an enhanced cross section for small energy transfers, a comparatively small detector with a low energy threshold may have better sensitivity than a larger detector with a higher energy threshold. In this paper, we provide accurate calculations of the low-energy ionization spectrum from high-velocity particles scattering in a dielectric material. We focus on silicon, although our results can be easily applied to other materials. We consider the full material response, in particular also the excitation of bulk plasmons. We generalize the energy-loss function to relativistic kinematics, and benchmark existing tools used for halo dark-matter scattering against publicly available electron energy-loss spectroscopy data. Compared to calculations of energy loss that are commonly used in the literature, such as the Photo-Absorption-Ionization model or the free-electron model, the inclusion of collective effects shifts the recoil ionization spectrum towards higher energies, typically peaking around 4--6 electron-hole pairs. We apply our results to the three benchmark examples: millicharged particles produced in a beam, neutrinos with a magnetic dipole moment produced in a reactor, and dark-matter particles that are upscattered by cosmic rays or in the Sun. Our results show that the proper inclusion of collective effects typically enhances a detector's sensitivity to these particles, since detector backgrounds, such as dark counts, peak at lower energies., Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures including appendices and references

The number of excitations in a large quantum system (harmonic oscillator or qudit) can be measured in a quantum non demolition manner using a dispersively coupled qubit. It typically requires a series of qubit pulses that encode various binary questions about the photon number. Recently, a method based on the fluorescence measurement of a qubit driven by a train of identical pulses was introduced to track the photon number in a cavity, hence simplifying its monitoring and raising interesting questions about the measurement backaction of this scheme. A first realization with superconducting circuits demonstrated how the average number of photons could be measured in this way. Here we present an experiment that reaches single shot photocounting and number tracking owing to a cavity decay rate 4 orders of magnitude smaller than both the dispersive coupling rate and the qubit emission rate. An innovative notch filter and pogo-pin based galvanic contact makes possible these seemingly incompatible features. The qubit dynamics under the pulse train is characterized. We observe quantum jumps by monitoring the photon number via the qubit fluorescence as photons leave the cavity one at a time. Besides, we extract the measurement rate and induced dephasing rate and compare them to theoretical models. Our method could be applied to quantum error correction protocols on bosonic codes or qudits., Comment: Main text and appended supplementary material

We present the first results from a dark matter search using six Skipper-CCDs in the SENSEI detector operating at SNOLAB. With an exposure of 534.9 gram-days from well-performing sensors, we select events containing 2 to 10 electron-hole pairs. After aggressively masking images to remove backgrounds, we observe 55 two-electron events, 4 three-electron events, and no events containing 4 to 10 electrons. The two-electron events are consistent with pileup from one-electron events. Among the 4 three-electron events, 2 appear in pixels that are likely impacted by detector defects, although not strongly enough to trigger our "hot-pixel" mask. We use these data to set world-leading constraints on sub-GeV dark matter interacting with electrons and nuclei., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, + Supplemental Materials (5 pages, 5 figures) + References

The reach of sub-GeV dark-matter detectors is at present severely affected by low-energy events from various origins. We present the theoretical methods to compute the single- and few-electron events that arise from secondary radiation emitted by high-energy particles passing through detector materials and perform simulations to quantify them at (Skipper) CCD-based experiments, focusing on the SENSEI data collected in the MINOS cavern at Fermilab. The simulations account for the generation of secondaries from Cherenkov and luminescent recombination; photo-absorption, reflection, refraction and thin-film interference in detector materials; roughness of the interfaces and the dynamics of charges and partial charge collection (PCC) in the doped CCD-backside. We consider several systematic uncertainties, notably those stemming from the backside charge-diffusion modeling, which we estimate with a "fiducial'' and an "extreme'' model, with the former model presenting better agreement with PCC data. We find that Cherenkov photons constitute about 40% of the observed single-electron events for both models; radiative recombination rates are negligible for the fiducial model, but can dominate over the Cherenkov rates for the extreme model. We also estimate the fraction of 2-electron events from 1-electron event same-pixel coincidences, finding that the entire 2-electron rate can be explained by coincidences of radiative events and spurious charge. Accounting for backgrounds, we project the sensitivity of future Skipper-CCD-based experiments to different dark-matter models. For light-mediator models with dark-matter masses of 1, 5, and 10 MeV, we find that future experiments with 10-kg-year exposures and successful background mitigation could have a sensitivity that is larger by 9, 3, and 2 orders of magnitude, respectively, when compared to an experiment without background improvements. (abridged), Comment: 45 pages, 19 figures, 5 tables, 73 references

Low-energy Compton scattering is an important background for sub-GeV dark matter direct-detection and other experiments. Current Compton scattering calculations typically rely on assumptions that are not valid in the low-energy region of interest, beneath ~ 50 eV. Here we relate the low-energy Compton scattering differential cross section to the dielectric response of the material. Our new approach can be used for a wide range of materials and includes all-electron, band structure, and collective effects, which can be particularly relevant at low energies. We demonstrate the strength of our approach in several solid-state systems, in particular Si, Ge, GaAs, and SiC, which are relevant for current and proposed experiments searching for dark matter, neutrinos, and millicharged particles., Comment: 5 figures, 9 pages + references

Existing Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) operate by detecting either the electrons or holes created in an ionization event. We propose a new type of imager, the Dual-Sided CCD, which collects and measures both charge carriers on opposite sides of the device via a novel dual-buried channel architecture. We show that this dual detection strategy provides exceptional dark-count rejection and enhanced timing capabilities. These advancements have wide-ranging implications for dark-matter searches, near-IR/optical spectroscopy, and time-domain X-ray astrophysics., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. v2: matches published version. Merged appendices into the main text, added dark matter projected reach plot

The Migdal effect predicts that a nuclear recoil interaction can be accompanied by atomic ionization, allowing many dark matter direct detection experiments to gain sensitivity to sub-GeV masses. We report the first direct search for the Migdal effect for M- and L-shell electrons in liquid xenon using 7.0$\pm$1.6 keV nuclear recoils produced by tagged neutron scatters. Despite an observed background rate lower than that of expected signals in the region of interest, we do not observe a signal consistent with predictions. We discuss possible explanations, including inaccurate predictions for either the Migdal rate or the signal response in liquid xenon. We comment on the implications for direct dark-matter searches and future Migdal characterization efforts., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Cat qubits, for which logical $|0\rangle$ and $|1\rangle$ are coherent states $|\pm\alpha\rangle$ of a harmonic mode, offer a promising route towards quantum error correction. Using dissipation to our advantage so that photon pairs of the harmonic mode are exchanged with single photons of its environment, it is possible to stabilize the logical states and exponentially increase the bit-flip time of the cat qubit with the photon number $|\alpha|^2$. Large two-photon dissipation rate $\kappa_2$ ensures fast qubit manipulation and short error correction cycles, which are instrumental to correct the remaining phase-flip errors in a repetition code of cat qubits. Here we introduce and operate an autoparametric superconducting circuit that couples a mode containing the cat qubit to a lossy mode whose frequency is set at twice that of the cat mode. This passive coupling does not require a parametric pump and reaches a rate $\kappa_2/2\pi\approx 2~\mathrm{MHz}$. With such a strong two-photon dissipation, bit-flip errors of the autoparametric cat qubit are prevented for a characteristic time up to 0.3~s with only a mild impact on phase-flip errors. Besides, we illustrate how the phase of a quantum superposition between $|\alpha\rangle$ and $|-\alpha\rangle$ can be arbitrarily changed by driving the harmonic mode while keeping the engineered dissipation active.

We calculate target-material responses for dark matter--electron scattering at the \textit{ab-initio} all-electron level using atom-centered gaussian basis sets. The all-electron effects enhance the material response at high momentum transfers from dark matter to electrons, $q\gtrsim \mathcal{O}\left({10\ \alpha m_e}\right)$, compared to calculations using conventional plane wave methods, including those used in QEDark; this enhances the expected event rates at energy transfers $E \gtrsim 10$~eV, especially when scattering through heavy mediators. We carefully test a range of systematic uncertainties in the theory calculation, including those arising from the choice of basis set, exchange-correlation functional, number of unit cells in the Bloch sum, $\mathbf{k}$-mesh, and neglect of scatters with very high momentum transfers. We provide state-of-the-art crystal form factors, focusing on silicon and germanium. Our code and results are made publicly available as a new tool, called Quantum Chemistry Dark (``QCDark'')., Comment: 15 pages, plus references and appendices, 12 figures

Establishing a deep underground physics laboratory to study, amongst others, double beta decay, geoneutrinos, reactor neutrinos and dark matter has been discussed for more than a decade within the austral African physicists' community. PAUL, the Paarl Africa Underground Laboratory, is an initiative foreseeing an open international laboratory devoted to the development of competitive science in the austral region. It has the advantage that the location, the Huguenot tunnel, exists already and the geology and the environment of the site is appropriate for an experimental facility. The paper describes the PAUL initiative, presents the physics prospects and discusses the capacity for building the future experimental facility., Comment: 11 pages including one authors page, 6 Figures, 45 references

We present results from a 3.25 kg-day target exposure of two silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs), each with 24 megapixels and skipper readout, deployed in the DAMIC setup at SNOLAB. With a reduction in pixel readout noise of a factor of 10 relative to the previous detector, we investigate the excess population of low-energy events in the CCD bulk previously observed above expected backgrounds. We address the dominant systematic uncertainty of the previous analysis through a depth fiducialization designed to reject surface backgrounds on the CCDs. The measured bulk ionization spectrum confirms the presence of an excess population of low-energy events in the CCD target with characteristic rate of ${\sim}7$ events per kg-day and electron-equivalent energies of ${\sim}80~$eV, whose origin remains unknown., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Millicharged particles appear in several extensions of the Standard Model, but have not yet been detected. These hypothetical particles could be produced by an intense proton beam striking a fixed target. We use data collected in 2020 by the SENSEI experiment in the MINOS cavern at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to search for ultra-relativistic millicharged particles produced in collisions of protons in the NuMI beam with a fixed graphite target. The absence of any ionization events with 3 to 6 electrons in the SENSEI data allow us to place world-leading constraints on millicharged particles for masses between 30 MeV to 380 MeV. This work also demonstrates the potential of utilizing low-threshold detectors to investigate new particles in beam-dump experiments, and motivates a future experiment designed specifically for this purpose., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Oscura is a planned light-dark matter search experiment using Skipper-CCDs with a total active mass of 10 kg. As part of the detector development, the collaboration plans to build the Oscura Integration Test (OIT), an engineering test with 10% of the total mass. Here we discuss the early science opportunities with the OIT to search for millicharged particles (mCPs) using the NuMI beam at Fermilab. mCPs would be produced at low energies through photon-mediated processes from decays of scalar, pseudoscalar, and vector mesons, or direct Drell-Yan productions. Estimates show that the OIT would be a world-leading probe for mCPs in the MeV mass range., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures

Oscura is a proposed multi-kg skipper-CCD experiment designed for a dark matter (DM) direct detection search that will reach unprecedented sensitivity to sub-GeV DM-electron interactions with its 10 kg detector array. Oscura is planning to operate at SNOLAB with 2070 m overburden, and aims to reach a background goal of less than one event in each electron bin in the 2-10 electron ionization-signal region for the full 30 kg-year exposure, with a radiation background rate of 0.01 dru. In order to achieve this goal, Oscura must address each potential source of background events, including instrumental backgrounds. In this work, we discuss the main instrumental background sources and the strategy to control them, establishing a set of constraints on the sensors' performance parameters. We present results from the tests of the first fabricated Oscura prototype sensors, evaluate their performance in the context of the established constraints and estimate the Oscura instrumental background based on these results.