Ultralight \textit{axion-like particles} (ALPs) are among the most theoretically motivated dark matter candidates, yet their detection remains challenging across a wide range of masses. We present a novel \textbf{heterodyne atom interferometry scheme} that dramatically extends the sensitivity of quantum sensors to ALP dark matter, covering up to \textit{six orders of magnitude} in axion mass...
Dark matter remains one of the central problems in fundamental physics, and cavity-based searches are a leading method for probing ultralight candidates such as axions and dark photons. In this talk, I will present a quantum sensing protocol for coupled qubitโoscillator systems aimed at improving cavity-based dark matter detection. By combining coherent displacement and squeezing, the weak...
The TESSERACT collaboration will search for dark matter particles below the proton mass through interactions with multiple novel, ultra-sensitive detectors. Each detector technology will use athermal phonon-sensitive Transition Edge Sensors to read out the signals deposited in the various target materials. In this talk I will present on the recent progress made toward reaching this goal....
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) are dark matter candidates that appear in many extensions to the Standard Model. If they exist, they would be emitted by the Sun and could be converted to X-rays in a strong magnetic field. The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) and its intermediate stage BabyIAXO are the next generation of experiments looking for these solar axions. BabyIAXO will...
Axion-like particles (ALPs) appear in various extensions of the Standard Model and can interact with photons, leading to ALP-photon conversions in external magnetic fields. This phenomenon can introduce characteristic energy-dependent โwigglesโ in gamma-ray spectra. The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is the next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory, designed to provide...
Located in China Jinping Underground, the PandaX (Particle and Astrophysical Xenon) project consists of a series of liquid-xenon-based rare event detection experiments, aimed to search for dark matter particles and to study the fundamental properties of neutrinos. The current experiment, PandaX-4T, employes a dual-phase time projection chamber containing 3.7 tonnes of liquid xenon in the...
PandaX-4T is a multi-tonne liquid-xenon experiment searching for rare low-energy interactions, operating with a 3.7-tonne active target at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (2400 m.w.e. overburden). In 2024, PandaX-4T reported the first indication of coherent elastic neutrinoโnucleus scattering (CE๐NS) from solar B8 neutrinos using combined Run1 and Run2 data, with a significance of...
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a direct dark matter detection experiment employing a 7 tonne active volume dual-phase xenon time projection chamber, located nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, USA. I will discuss the experiment's status and present recent results from searches for dark matter and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS)...
The PICO Collaboration searches for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using bubble chamber technology. Filled with superheated C$_3$F$_8$, PICO detectors achieve world-leading sensitivity to spin-dependent WIMPโproton interactions through unpaired protons in the fluorine nuclei while being insensitive to gammas from electron recoils. Housed in SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, the...
The DEAP-3600 experiment is a direct dark matter search located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, Canada. It employs a spherical acrylic vessel capable of holding 3600 kg of liquid argon (LAr) target surrounded by a water Cherenkov veto system. Recent analyses has produced an updated exclusion limit on WIMP dark matter search using a Profile Likelihood Ratio (PLR) method. In addition, the DEAP-3600...
SABRE is an international collaboration that will operate similar particle detectors in the Northern (SABRE North) and Southern Hemispheres (SABRE South). This innovative approach aims to distinguish potential dark matter signals from seasonal backgrounds: a pioneering strategy only feasible with a Southern Hemisphere experiment. SABRE South is located at the Stawell Underground Physics...
Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are among the most promising targets for indirect dark matter (DM) searches. A key ingredient in robust predictions of DM annihilation signals is an accurate characterization of the DM profile in these systems.
In this work, we investigate the impact of non-spherical DM halo structures on gamma-ray observations with the Cherenkov Telescope Array...
Very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations of the Galactic Center (GC) have placed stringent constraints on dark matter candidate models, including supersymmetric wino and higgsino scenarios, with sensitivities approaching the predictions of thermal relic models. The Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) of the next-generation gamma-ray facility, the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO),...
We present a search for neutrinos from the Sun using IceCube IC86 data, targeting two complementary physics goals. The primary objective is to constrain dark matter annihilation in the solar core, where gravitationally captured WIMPs accumulate and annihilate into Standard Model particles, producing neutrinos detectable by IceCube. The secondary objective is the detection of solar atmospheric...
Fuzzy dark matter (FDM) predicts a solitonic core within halos, in contrast to the cuspy inner profiles expected in the standard cold dark matter (CDM) model.
We investigate differences in the inner structure of dark matter halos through the stellar kinematics of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, which place constraints on the FDM particle mass.
We analyze the parameter space using a statistical...
Compact astrophysical objects, such as neutron stars and white dwarfs, can act as detectors of energetic particle fluxes originating from astrophysical accelerators. While most existing capture and heating calculations assume isotropic very low energetic incident fluxes from the halo dark matter, many realistic sources produce highly directional beams or jets, for which gravitational focusing,...
Over the last few decades, dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) have emerged as prominent targets for indirect dark matter searches in both the radio and gamma-ray regimes due to their high mass-to-light ratio. While gamma-ray observatories, such as MAGIC, search for secondary photons from weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) annihilation or decay, radio observatories, such as LOFAR, probe...
Asymmetric dark matter (ADM) explains the present DM abundance by asymmetry between DM particles and anti-particles, like visible matter or standard model (SM) baryons.
It is particularly interesting when the visible and dark asymmetries have a common origin, since their abundances are different only by a factor of ~5.
In such a case, DM mass should be 1-10 GeV.
ADM is naturally realized by...
Blazars are a subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGN), the brightest continuously emitting sources in the Universe, powered by accreting supermassive black holes (SMBH). Their defining characteristic is the presence of powerful, back-to-back relativistic jets of protons and electrons, with one jet closely aligned in the direction of Earth. This offers a unique opportunity to probe physics...
Dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way are targets of great interest for searches of Dark Matter (DM) signatures with the Fermi-LAT. In the last decade the number of detected and putative dSphs has been rapidly increasing, allowing for some of the most stringent constraints to be put on models of annihilating DM in the GeV-TeV range. The most recent results even highlight...
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) remain an interesting candidate for dark matter. Hypothesized to have been formed in the early Universe from the collapse of density fluctuations or other mechanisms, unlike astrophysical black holes, PBHs could span an extremely wide range of initial masses, from about $10^{-5}\, \rm g$ up to $\sim 10^{38}\, \rm g$. Observational constraints from cosmological and...
Next-generation neutrino telescopes have emerged as a powerful tool for constraining dark matter properties in the high-energy regime, which remains largely unexplored. We forecast the sensitivity of the TRIDENT neutrino telescope to dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Centre over the mass range from $10^3$ to $10^5$ GeV, showing that TRIDENT will probe annihilation rates down to...
COSINUS is a cryogenic, low-background experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, designed to provide a model-independent cross-check of the DAMA/LIBRA dark matter modulation claim. It operates ultrapure Sodium Iodide (NaI) crystals as dual-channel cryogenic calorimeters: the remoTES scheme reads out the phonon signal, and a surrounding silicon beaker read out with a traditional...
Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are highly sensitive detectors capable of measuring extremely small energy depositions with excellent energy resolution in the sub-eV to eV range. However, the target material of the COSINUS experiment, sodium iodide (NaI), is incompatible with standard TES fabrication processes. To overcome this limitation, the COSINUS collaboration has developed the remoTES...
The COSINUS experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter, operating sodium iodide crystals as cryogenic calorimeters using the remoTES design. In this design, the TES is deposited on a seperate wafer and connected to the phonon collector on the absorber via a gold bonding wire. The resulting pulse shape upon a particle interaction is well described by a three-node thermal...
The search for axion-like particles (ALPs) and other weakly interacting states remains an important problem in particle astrophysics. One possible production mechanism is the Primakoff effect, where photons can convert into weakly interacting particles in the presence of an external magnetic field.
In this work, we investigate whether a photon beam passing through a magnetic field can lead...
The nature of dark matter remains one of the most important open questions in fundamental physics. Low-energy cosmic-ray antideuterons are a particularly compelling indirect detection channel because conventional astrophysical production is strongly suppressed at kinetic energies below approximately 1 GeV/n, making this energy range a uniquely low-background window for searches for new...
The XENONnT experiment is a direct dark matter search experiment using a time projection chamber filled with 8.5 tonnes of liquid xenon, operated at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy. The detector collected science data since 2021 to 2025, and is currently undergoing upgrade to further improve the sensitivity.
In this talk, I will present an overview of the experiment, along...
The LZ experiment is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber for direct dark matter searches located in Lead, South Dakota, USA. Although LZโs primary goal is the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via low-energy nuclear recoils, it can also leverage its low background to search for alternative beyond standard model physics scenarios , including dark matter...
We demonstrate the differences, with and without directionality information from knockout neutrons, on the sensitivities of Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory JUNO on dark matter (DM) direct detection. Sub-GeV DM can be boosted by cosmic rays to leave a detectable signal in liquid scintillator detectors. These boosted dark matter (BDM) are dominated around the galactic center due to DM...
Light dark matter with sub-eV masses has a high number density in our galaxy, and its scattering cross section with macroscopic objects can be significantly enhanced by coherence effects. Repeated scattering with a target object can induce a measurable acceleration. Torsion balance experiments with geometric asymmetry are, in principle, capable of detecting such signals. Our analysis shows...
Abstract
The Sun provides a complementary probe of sub-GeV dark matter (DM) through spin-dependent DMโproton scattering and neutrinos from DM annihilation. For $m_\chi \lesssim 4\ \mathrm{GeV}$, where evaporation is significant, the spatial distribution of the captured DM population is a key uncertainty in predicting the annihilation rate and neutrino flux. We use DaMaSCUS-SUN to perform...
Searches for the decays $K^{+}\rightarrow\pi^{+}X$ and $\pi^{+}\rightarrow e^{+}N$ are presented using data collected by the NA62 experiment at CERN in 2016--2022 and 2017--2024, respectively. Results are interpreted to constrain a range of new physics scenarios covering all four portal model scenarios. Upper limits on the $K^{+}\rightarrow\pi^{+}X$ branching ratio are established at the...
We investigate sub-GeV scalar dark matter embedded in a rich dark sector linking cosmology, neutrino physics, and astrophysical observables. The framework features a complex scalar dark matter candidate interacting via a Higgs-mixed mediator associated with the spontaneous breaking of a dark $U'(1)$ symmetry.
We first perform a numerical exploration of the scalar and dark matter sector and...
Dark matter particles can be accelerated by annihilation processes such as semi-annihilations and $n \to m$ ($n > m$) processes when the dark sector is non-minimally extended. Such boosted dark matter can provide a distinctive signature of a non-minimal dark sector, and its experimental detectability has been explored in a model-independent manner in previous work. In this work, we construct...
In hidden sector models, the dark matter does not directly couple to the particle content of the Standard Model, strongly suppressing rates at direct detection experiments, while still allowing for detectable signals from dark matter annihilation. I will describe a variety of portal interactions that can allow the hidden sector annihilation products to decay into Standard Model particles and...
Totani recently reported a spherically symmetric, halo-like component of the Galactic diffuse emission peaking near $20\,$GeV in fifteen years of $\textit{Fermi}$--LAT data, extracted at high latitude, where the diffuse backgrounds are cleanest, and compatible at the template level with dark matter annihilation in a smooth NFW halo.
We test that result with an independent pipeline....
Accurate modeling of cosmic-ray propagation in the Galaxy is a central ingredient in indirect searches for dark matter. However, numerical propagation codes are computationally expensive, limiting their applicability in large parameter scans and inference studies. In this talk, I will present a novel neural network framework that learns the mapping between arbitrary dark matter antiproton or...
