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Projected sensitivity to light WIMP-like particles of the BULLKID-DM experiment

Matteo Folcarelli, A. Acevedo-Rentería, L. E. Ardila-Perez, L. Bandiera, M. Calvo, M. Cappelli, R. Caravita, F. Carillo, U. Chowdhury, D. Crovo, A. Cruciani, A. D'Addabbo, D. Delicato, M. De Lucia, G. Del Castello, M. del Gallo Roccagiovine, F. Ferraro, S. Fu, R. Gartmann, M. Grassi, V. Guidi, D. Helis, T. Lari, L. Malagutti, A. Mazzolari, A. Monfardini, T. Muscheid, D. Nicolò, F. Paolucci, D. Pasciuto, L. Pesce, C. Puglia, D. Quaranta, C. M. A. Roda, S. Roddaro, M. Romagnoni, G. Signorelli, F. Simon, A. Tartari, E. Vázquez-Jáuregui, M. Vignati, K. Zhao

TL;DR

The paper proposes BULLKID-DM, a direct-detection concept for light WIMPs with masses near or below 1 GeV, using a stack of silicon dice read by kinetic inductance detectors to achieve sub-keV thresholds. It emphasizes a fully active target and fiducialization to suppress natural-radioactivity backgrounds, aiming for a total active mass of about 800 g and a fiducial mass around 600 g. A staged roadmap from prototype to full detector, with installation planned at LNGS by 2027, is presented alongside sensitivity projections. Using the Yellin method, the projected 90% CL limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section are shown for several background/threshold scenarios and compared to other experiments, illustrating competitive reach in the low-mass regime. The work highlights ongoing R&D to push energy thresholds lower and further reduce backgrounds, enabling improved sensitivity to light DM.

Abstract

BULLKID-DM is an experiment designed for the direct searches of particle dark matter candidates with mass around 1 GeV, or below, and cross-section with nucleons smaller than $10^{-40}$ cm$^2$. The detector consists of a stack of diced silicon wafers, acting as arrays of particle absorbers, sensed by multiplexed Kinetic Inductance Detectors. The target will amount to 800 g subdivided in more than 2000 silicon dice, with the aim of controlling the background from natural radioactivity by creating a fully active structure and by applying fiducialization techniques. In this work we present the projected sensitivity of BULLKID-DM to light WIMP-like particles considering also the other future experiments in the field.

Projected sensitivity to light WIMP-like particles of the BULLKID-DM experiment

TL;DR

The paper proposes BULLKID-DM, a direct-detection concept for light WIMPs with masses near or below 1 GeV, using a stack of silicon dice read by kinetic inductance detectors to achieve sub-keV thresholds. It emphasizes a fully active target and fiducialization to suppress natural-radioactivity backgrounds, aiming for a total active mass of about 800 g and a fiducial mass around 600 g. A staged roadmap from prototype to full detector, with installation planned at LNGS by 2027, is presented alongside sensitivity projections. Using the Yellin method, the projected 90% CL limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section are shown for several background/threshold scenarios and compared to other experiments, illustrating competitive reach in the low-mass regime. The work highlights ongoing R&D to push energy thresholds lower and further reduce backgrounds, enabling improved sensitivity to light DM.

Abstract

BULLKID-DM is an experiment designed for the direct searches of particle dark matter candidates with mass around 1 GeV, or below, and cross-section with nucleons smaller than cm. The detector consists of a stack of diced silicon wafers, acting as arrays of particle absorbers, sensed by multiplexed Kinetic Inductance Detectors. The target will amount to 800 g subdivided in more than 2000 silicon dice, with the aim of controlling the background from natural radioactivity by creating a fully active structure and by applying fiducialization techniques. In this work we present the projected sensitivity of BULLKID-DM to light WIMP-like particles considering also the other future experiments in the field.
Paper Structure (4 sections, 2 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 4 sections, 2 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. BULLKID-DM roadmap
  3. Sensitivity projections to WIMP-like particles
  4. Conclusion

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Different stages of the BULLKID-DM road-map. From the left: the prototype, a $3"$ diameter, 5 mm thick silicon wafer; the demonstrator, consisting of a stack of 3 prototypes; the final detector design consisting of a stack of 16 wafers of 100 mm each. The table on the bottom summarizes the main properties of each stage of the road-map.
  • Figure 2: Projected sensitivities of BULLKID-DM and of other experiments (Tab. \ref{['tab:future_exp']}) as the 90 % CL on the mass and the SI cross section of WIMPs with nucleons. The green area represents the state of the art; the orange region is the silicon neutrino fog nufog.