To the date, the only positive signal of presence of dark matter (DM) in the Milky Way halo by direct observation of its interaction with a detector comes from the DAMA/LIBRA experiment in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS). For more than 20 years it has observed an annual modulation in the low energy counting rate compatible with that expected due to the rotation of the Earth around...
For a fully model-independent investigation of the nature of the DAMA/LIBRA signal, experiments which use the same material as DAMA/LIBRA are mandatory.
COSINUS will use crystals of NaI, however not operating them as mere scintillation detectors, but as so-called cryogenic scintillating calorimeters cooled to milli-Kelvin temperatures. COSINUS detectors provide a simultaneous and independent...
The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional...
The XENONnT detector is the latest in the series of XENON experiments, utilizing the concept of dual-phase time projection chambers (TPCs) for the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Located at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, the detector was commissioned in 2021 and has already completed its first science run. With an increased liquid xenon...
Dark photon dark matter in the milli-eV mass range is notoriously difficult to detect, being too high in frequency for high-$Q$ cavity resonators yet below the energy threshold of single-photon detectors. I will present a new method that overcomes this difficulty, based on recent work (arXiv:2208.06519) with Peter Graham and Gerald Gabrielse et al. We propose to use trapped electrons as...
The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric 0νββ experiment to reach the one-tonne mass scale. The detector, located underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, consists of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in a compact cylindrical structure of 19 towers, operating at a base temperature of about 10 mK. After beginning its first physics...
The QCD axion is a promising dark matter candidate whose discovery would also solve the Strong CP problem of particle physics. The DMRadio suite of experiments, which consists of DMRadio-50L, DMRadio-m3, and DMRadio-GUT, are designed to be sensitive to QCD axions in the peV to ueV mass range. Axions in this mass range may be produced in the measured dark matter abundance in the early universe...
The DAMIC-M (DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane) experiment employs a novel technique to search for the elusive particles which make up most of the matter in the universe, called dark matter. The aim is direct detection of light dark matter (WIMPs, Hidden Sector Particles) via interaction with silicon in the bulk of the CCDs (Charged Coupled Devised). These CCDs use skipper amplifiers to...
We present the latest results of the low mass dark matter searches with the DarkSide-50 experiment. DarkSide-50 is a dual phase Time Projection Chamber based on low radioactivity argon. The full (12202 ± 180) kg * day dataset collected from 2015 to 2018 underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso has been recently analyzed. In addition to the usual frequentist analysis, a Bayesian...
The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter search experiment, a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA, has the world's leading sensitivity to searches for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). It is comprised of a 10-tonne target mass (7-tonne active) and outfitted with photomultiplier tubes in both the central...
We employ a non-relativistic effective theory to model dark matter (DM) induced electron ejections from graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), materials currently in the R&D phase for direct detection experiments. The material properties of graphene are modelled using Density Functional Theory, and we obtain observable ejection rates for arbitrary forms of scalar and spin-1/2 DM. We show how...
The direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter particles is a major experimental challenge. In this low energy range, the energy transfer between sub-GeV particles and a solid target media is only in the range of a few millielectron-volts to a few electron-volts, which dares the current capabilities of sensors. However, the application of state-of-the-art developments in quantum information...
The QUAX experiment is committed in the search of light dark matter candidates, such as axions and axion-like particles, with a haloscope setup involving microwave resonant cavities. Many avenues to push further the haloscope sensitivity are being tested, facing some technological challenges. One of these is the development of superconducting cavities and dielectric cavities, showing...
We present the design, status and first results of a detector to search for axions and axion-like particles in the galactic halo using laser interferometry enhanced via squeezed states of light. The detector is sensitive to the polarisation rotation of linearly polarised light induced by an axion field in the mass range from 10^−16 eV up to 10^−8 eV, and is likely to significantly surpass the...
