Dark matter searches beyond the WIMP: pushing sensitivities with skipper-CCDs

Ana Botti
University of Chicago

Abstract

In recent years, advancements in theoretical frameworks motivated searches for light-dark matter particles in the meV-GeV mass region by showing the compatibility of these models with cosmological observations. New emerging technologies, such as skipper-CCDs, facilitated the development of small- and medium-sized experiments tailored for exploring these theoretical models. Skipper-CCDs are pixeled silicon detectors with a deep sub-electron resolution that allows the detection of eV energy transfers, such as that expected from light-dark matter interacting with electrons in a silicon target. SENSEI is the first experiment to use skipper-CCD for this purpose and to produce world-leading results using this technology. In this talk, I present an overview of the SENSEI experiment and the current status after successfully commissioning the second science run at SNOLAB. I will also discuss the prospects in rare-events searches with skipper-CCDs: from SENSEI’s 100 g detector to OSCURA’s 10 kg array and more.

Timbits, coffee, tea will be served in STI A before the colloquium.