2024 CDM Annual Workshop

7:00-9:00

Breakfast (for those staying the night before)

Pallisade Kitchen and Bar

8:30-9:00

30

Registration (for those not registered on previous days)

Arrival Tea & Coffee

Illawarra Gallery

9:00-9:30

30

Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country

The Deck

Local Traditional Owners and Elders will perform a smoking ceremony on the deck and a Welcome to Country

9:30-9:45

15

Welcome from Director and housekeeping

Elisabetta Barberio / Anita Vecchies

Session 1

Session Chair - Nicole Bell

9:45-10:15

30

Keynote presentation - Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

James Dent

Primordial black holes in the mass window of roughly 10^{17} g - 10^{22} g can possibly account for all of dark matter, but probing this parameter space presents interesting phenomenolgical challenges. In this talk I will discuss possible signals from such a population due to Hawking evaporation, a variety of gravitational wave production mechanisms, and superradiance.

10:15-10:30

15

A tale of two experiments and the not-so-straight journey of scientific endeavour

Laura Manenti

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Dickens’ words well describe the reality of experimental physics, where success and failure often go hand in hand. In this talk, I will take you through the development and characterisation of one of the world's quietest sensors: a superconducting transition-edge sensor designed for a future dark matter experiment searching for dark photons. I will tell you about the path that led to the final experiment and its outcome, sharing the challenges encountered along the way and the behind-the-scenes moments not shared in the final published paper. Through this tale, I will show that in experimental physics, the norm is that things do not unfold as planned. Yet, it is precisely this unpredictability that makes the journey so exciting.

10:30-11:00

30 min

Morning Tea

Illawarra Gallery

Session 2

Session Chair - Ray Volkas

11:00-11:30

30

Keynote presentation - Status and perspectives of Direct Dark Matter searches

Luca Scotto Lavina

The existence of dark matter in the Universe is one of the most fascinating missions of modern physics. While there is overwhelming indirect evidence about its existence, enough to let our community to adopt dark matter as an essential part of the standard cosmological model, direct search experiments are essential to uncover its nature.

The hunt for dark matter is mapping out new territories every year, thanks to a plethora of experimental techniques and by scoping many particle models, from the still-best-motivated WIMP to more exotic ones.

This talk reviews the most recent experimental techniques, especially those conducted with low background detectors in underground laboratories, their results and projects to the future.

11:30-11:45

15

Dark Sector Searches at Belle/Belle II Experiment

Eiasha Waheed

The Belle and Belle II experiments are crucial for exploring the dark sector by searching for axion-like particles (ALPs) and heavy neutrinos, which may extend beyond the Standard Model. These searches focus on ALPs as potential dark matter candidates and study their decays, while also probing heavy neutrinos in B meson decays. With unprecedented sensitivity, Belle II pushes the boundaries on current dark matter and new physics searches, setting stringent limits on ALP couplings and neutrino properties.

11:45-12:00

15

SUPL Status Report

Sue Barrell

An overview of the status and aspirations of SUPL as an open access research facility. The presentation will cover the evolution of the SUPL team and our partnerships, and an update on the research projects planned for installation and the potential future diversity of research in SUPL. Progress on readying the facility for research projects will be summarised, as will processes for research project approval and personnel access. Finally, some outreach highlights will be shared.

12:00-13:00

60 min

Lunch

Illawarra Gallery

Session 3

Session Chairs - Anita Vecchies & Jade McKenzie

13:00-15:00

120

EDI session: Cultural Immersion - Interwoven

Cherie Johnson

Speaking in Colour

A unique, hands-on cultural immersion experience, led by Aboriginal artist and educator Cherie Johnson. In this session, participants will explore the art of traditional Aboriginal weaving—learning the how, when, and why behind this intricate practice. This fun and relaxed session offers insight into the rich heritage and significance of weaving in Aboriginal culture.

Each participant will have the chance to create a contemporary woven keepsake (bracelet) and contribute to a collaborative artwork.

Note: Spaces for this session are limited.

There are 90 spots in total. If you are unable to sign up, you can go onto the waitlist by emailing Jade McKenzie.

15:00-15:30

30 min

Afternoon Tea

Illawarra Gallery

Session 4

Session Chair - Andrew Stuchbery

15:30-15:45

15

Galaxy clusters: giant dark matter particle colliders

Ellen Sirks

Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. Because of their high density and local velocity dispersion, they are ideal environments for probing the nature of dark matter. The specific properties of dark matter can have great effects on both clusters as a whole as well as on the galaxies residing in them. In this seminar I will present my work studying some of the effects of self-interacting dark matter on simulated galaxy clusters. In addition, I will discuss how I will be studying these effects observationally using the balloon-borne SuperBIT telescope.

15:45-16:00

15

Development of Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Low Background Experiments

Dominik Koll

Mass spectrometry is the method of choice to determine radionuclide concentrations in detector materials for low background experiments if decay counting is not applicable. In this presentation, recent work to develop and optimise mass spectrometric techniques for the determination of radionuclides such as 40K, 129I, 210Pb or actindes will be discussed with focus on the future capabilities of the new Helmholtz Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Tracing Environmental Radionuclides (HAMSTER) facility.

16:00-16:15

15

Mental well-being in gravitational wave and high energy physics

Kamiel Janssens

Many people in academia struggle with their mental well-being due to the unique environment and conditions. However, at the same time many researchers love their fulfilling job. In a recent set of survey(s) we probed the general mental well-being of researchers in the field of gravitational waves (2021) and the wider High Energy/Astrophysics community (2022). We start by highlighting some of the key conclusions of these surveys. Is there any difference between the subsequent years? How resilient is the mental well-being of our collaborators? Tune in to learn about these and many other related topics!

16:15-16:30

15

Near-quantum limited axion dark matter search with the ORGAN experiment around 26 micro-eV

Graeme Flower

The latest iteration of the ORGAN experiment operated at millikelvin temperatures using a flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA) for reduced noise, along with various other upgrades over previous iterations. Covering the 25.45−26.27 micro-eV mass range, this near-quantum limited phase of ORGAN employs a conducting rod resonator and a 7-T solenoidal magnet to place the most sensitive exclusion limits on axion-photon coupling in the range to date.

16:30-18:00

90

Poster Session

The Deck

Full details here: https://darkmatteraustralia.atlassian.net/wiki/x/DAbMaw

Any student/postdoc who is not doing a talk should present a poster. We are also inviting recipients of CDM SI funding to present an update of their projects as a poster.

Vote for your favourite poster here: https://forms.office.com/r/WmWx8wLVwE

17:30-19:00

90

Closed session - CDM Chief Investigators

Pacific 1

7:00-9:00

Breakfast (for those staying the night before)

Pallisade Kitchen and Bar

8:30-9:00am

30

Registration (for those not registered on previous days)

Illawarra Gallery

Session 1

Session Chair - Geoff Taylor

9:00-9:30

30

Keynote presentation - Catalyzing supermassive black hole formation with dark matter

Aaron Vincent

Quasars observed at redshifts ∼6−7.5 were powered by supermassive black holes which are too large to have grown from early stellar remnants without efficient super-Eddington accretion, and recent observations from JWST hint that our understanding of early star formation is incomplete. I will discuss these findings, and recent work that has examined the possible effects of dark matter annihilation and decay on the collapse of the very first gas clouds, and how this may have affected the first stars, and seeded the first supermassive black holes.

9:30-10:45

75

CDM Research Theme Updates

• Phillip Urquijo

• Mike Tobar

• Nicole Bell

• Paul Jackson

• Steve Tims

• DD – WIMP update

• DD – Axion update

• Theory update

• LCH update

• Metrology update

• Q&A at end

10:45-11:00

15

Group photo

Assemble at the bottom of the stairs to the North Bar

11:00-11:30

30 min

Morning Tea

Illawarra Gallery

Session 2

Session Chair - Tony Williams

11:30-12:30

60

Panel discussion

Laura Manenti (chair), Chamkaur Ghag, Darren Croton

The future of dark matter research with a focus on quantum and astro.

12:30-13:00

30

Education and Outreach Update

Jackie Bondell

Victoria Millar

Jackie will provide an update on the Centre’s Education and Outreach activities.

Victoria will provide an update on the research being done by the UoM Faculty of Education in the Centre’s partner schools.

13:00-14:00

60 min

Lunch

Illawarra Gallery

Session 3

Session Chairs - Darren Croton & Michaela Froehlich

14:00-15:00

60

Mentoring session

Michaela Froehlich

Darren Croton

Small group mentoring session for students and ECRs. Each table will have a mentor and will focus on different topics that are relevant to each cohort. Students and ECRs will be able to ask questions and cover several different areas of interest during the session.

15:00-15:45

45 min

Afternoon Tea - EDI Committee meet and greet

Illawarra Gallery

Session 4

Session Chair - Steve Tims

15:45-16:00

15

Dark Matter Impacts, asteroids and primordial black holes

Jeremy Mould

Asteroid impacts have entered our consciousness as existential threats. What has been the impact of primordial black holes on the Galaxy's planets? Is there an anthropic constraint on PBH as dark matter?

16:00-16:15

15

Status of the SABRE South Experiment

Lachlan Milligan

SABRE aims to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA through two separate detectors that rely on joint ultra-high NaI(Tl) purity crystal R&D activities: SABRE South at SUPL Australia and SABRE North at LNGS Italy. Ultra-high purity crystals are immersed in a liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to assess and mitigate background from the detector materials, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems. The SABRE South muon detectors were commissioned in SUPL this year, with measurements of muon flux and angular distribution ongoing. These are the first detectors to be commissioned in SUPL. The physics program of SABRE South is also being developed, with basic sensitivity studies having been performed. Assembly of SABRE South is planned for the coming year.

16:15-16:30

15

Asymmetric Dark Matter from semi-annihilation

Avirup Ghosh

Strong constraints from dark matter (DM) indirect detection observations have already shrunk the allowed parameter space for thermal WIMPs substantially. Asymmetric DM provides an alternative avenue to reconcile GeV-TeV scale DM with indirect detection observations. In this talk I shall show how a simple semi-annihilation like interaction can induce asymmetry in the DM which is further enhanced by the simple WIMP like pair-annihilation process. I shall also show how a concrete particle physics model allows such dynamics.

16:30-16:45

15

Two-Higgs Models: a Possible Dark Matter Portal and 95 GeV Anomaly Candidate

Navneet Krishnan

Two-Higgs Doublet Models are a class of well-motivated Beyond Standard Model extensions, able to answer existing questions about the Strong CP Problem and Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry. I investigate the application of these models with an additional scalar singlet as a portal to WIMP dark matter, and to a series of anomalies at 95GeV at the LHC and LEP.

16:45-17:00

15

An overview of CYGNUS' reach for dark matter and neutrino searches

Chiara Lisotti

As dark matter experiments grow in size and more of the available parameter space is investigated and excluded, it is necessary to plan ahead to circumvent the recently observed neutrino fog, which constitutes a near-irreducible background for an experiment sensitive to only recoil energy. The direction of the incoming flux of dark matter is unique, hence it provides a smoking-gun signal to unambiguously claim discovery; accessing this information would then make it possible to discern between dark matter and other sources. To accurately determine the origin of an incoming particle, a directional detector must be capable of resolving the spatial dimensions of the ionization tracks, for example micro-pattern gas detectors (MPGDs), which can be used as the readouts for gas time projection chamber (TPC)-based experiments; an example of such a set-up is CYGNUS. The CYGNUS consortium aims to build a global network of gas TPCs with both energy and directional sensitivity to reconstruct the signals event-by-event, to distinguish possible dark matter signals from the neutrino background from the Sun, as well as study the background itself and detect other feebly-interacting extraterrestrial particles. In this talk, I will give an overview of the physics potential of CYGNUS in terms of dark matter and neutrinos, and describe ongoing studies to derive the specifications needed to perform this search in future experiments.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGU_-F0VDw/zxgacdQPUbmuCX-OHrq8CQ/edit?utm_content=DAGU_-F0VDw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

17:00

Close

19:00-22:00

Workshop Dinner and Awards

The Deck

Arrive at 7pm

7:15pm - Entree served

7:40pm - CDM awards presentation

8:15pm - Main served

8:30pm (approx) - CDM talent show

9:00pm - Dessert served

Event concludes at 10:00pm

7:00-9:00

Breakfast (for those staying the night before)

Pallisade Kitchen and Bar

Session 1

Session Chair - Maxim Goryachev

9:15-9:30

15

Sensors for Radiation Monitoring for Space Missions

Anatoly Rozenfeld

Radiation is one of the main concerns in long-term human space flight such as a mission to the Moon or to Mars. In addition to space radiation being a safety risk to astronauts, it is also a major concern for onboard electronic devices. The most common radiation damage to microelectronic devices in space is caused by Single Event Effects (SEE) due to charge deposited in sensitive node by strike ion.

In this work, the response of the silicon on insulator (SOI) microdosimeter developed by the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), University of Wollongong in collaboration with SINTEF company was compared to the TimePix, developed at CERN and currently deployed at the International Space Station (ISS). The SOI microdosimeter has unique capability that its response to radiation in terms of stochastic deposition of energy in micron size sensitive volumes (SVs)  is similar to cells and it can provide the lineal energy spectrum and based on them the average quality factor ( ) and dose equivalent values (H) can be obtained. The TimePix provides information based on track-by-track basis which provides dE/dX spectra in silicon and dose after processing the particle track data. These information is required to mitigate the radiation hazard to astronaut’s health and SEE in electronics in a timely fashion.

The SOI microdosimeter consists of 1600 cylindrical shape SVs with well-defined charge collection. Each SV has a diameter of 18 µm and 10 µm thick. The SOI microdosimeter is capable in measuring the lineal energy spectra, determining the  and H_p(10). The Timepix consists of an array of 65k 55µm×55µm×500µm silicon pixels connected to the underlying TimePix ASIC which provides energy measurement and ADC for each pixel.

Both detectors were placed behind the aluminum plates of various thicknesses to evaluate the radiation field exposed to the astronauts behind shielding. 290 MeV/u ¹²C, 400 MeV/u ²⁰Ne, 800 MeV/u ²⁸Si and 650 MeV/u ⁴⁰Ar ions were used in this study. The lineal energy spectra obtained with the SOI microdosimeter and the dE/dX spectra derived with TimePix and converted to tissue are compared and agreed reasonably well. The average quality factor  of the radiation field obtained with the 2 detectors has shown good agreement for Ar and Ne ions ranging from 1.54% to 11% while some discrepancies between the two detectors of around 15 % were observed for no Al or thin Al wall in case of C, Fe and Si ions.

  Some discrepancies observed can be related to the fact that the TimePix is measuring dE/dX that is higher than the y due to escaping high energy delta electrons from SV in SOI microdosimeter that is typical for high energy ions like in this experiment. SOI microdosimeter and TimePix can provide the H_p(10) and Q values as well as LET instantly through microdosimetry approach and via data processing of tracks, respectively.  Both detectors are suitable for dose equivalent monitoring for astronauts in space.

Application of SOI microdosimeters for characterization of VHE Pb ion beam will be discussed.

9:30-9:45

15

The XEMIS2 camera construction at the Nantes University Hospital

Nicolas Beaupère

The XEMIS project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a low-radioactivity medical imaging system.

Its primary objective is to significantly reduce the amount of conventional injected activity, by a factor of 100, for imaging small animals. This breakthrough is envisioned within the realm of three gamma imaging and liquid xenon Compton telescope technologies. The presentation will provide an overview of the XEMIS project and the principles behind three gamma image reconstruction. Additionally, it will highlight progress on the installation of the XEMIS2 camera prototype at the Nantes University Hospital in France, focusing on developments in detector mechanics and data acquisition electronics.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Owl4YqTCTpDeIJXGby_GUk_qoOvhYsjd/view?usp=sharing

9:45-10:30

45

Innovation update plus feedback activity

Christine Thong

(Maxim Goryachev / Anita Vecchies - in room facilitators)

Christine will provide an update on the Centre’s innovation activities, upcoming opportunities to get involved and then open the discussion up to the room via some facilitated questions to seek feedback.

10:30-11:00

30

Morning tea

Illawarra Gallery

Session 2

Session chair - Mike Tobar

11:00-11:15

15

ECR Committee Update

Giorgio Busoni, Robert James, Victoria Bashu

The ECR Committee will give an update on ECR activities in the Centre and the ECR workshop.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Vg6Z0L0TaUJwqaBjaAdXMB2GkzA721xaLjjMkSoP1po/edit#slide=id.p

11:15-11:30

15

Collider Phenomenology of t-channel mediated Dark Matter Model

Aman Desai

We present the phenomenology at the Large Hadron Collider of a class of simplified t-channel Dark Matter models, in which coloured mediators from a new physics sector couple to Dark Matter candidates and Standard Model quarks of different flavours. We consider various realisations of such a class of models, characterised by different configurations of mediator and dark matter spins. We discuss the collider bounds on the masses of mediator and dark matter in such configurations by recasting experimental data from ATLAS and CMS searches through MadAnalysis 5. We also consider the impact of Next-to-Leading-Order corrections in the QCD sector on the determination of the bounds. This work is part of a joint effort between theorists and experimentalists to provide guidelines and benchmarks for new analyses during LHC Run 3.

11:30-11:45

15

Using simulations of Milky Way analogues to test warm dark matter

Adam Ussing

Astrophysically, non-interacting dark matter is considered only by it's temperature, either cold or warm. Most models of galaxy formation work comfortably within a cold dark matter paradigm, but this isn't at the exclusion of all other models. We used tuned simulations of Milky Way type galaxies to produce similar observable satellite galaxy populations, and then search for differences in the dust. This has been shown to be possible for a single galaxy but we now test on a much larger sample.

11:45-12:00

15

Director closing remarks

Elisabetta Barberio

12:00-13:00

60

Lunch

Illawarra Gallery (packed lunch)