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SLAC Publication: SLAC-PUB-15863
SLAC Release Date: January 13, 2014
A New Way to Explain DAMA Results
Vavra, Jerry.
The DAMA experiment clearly observes an oscillatory small signal. The observed signal is a very small energy deposit in the NaI(Tl) crystals, at a level of 2-6 keV, believed to be due to interactions of detector nuclei with the Dark Matter. The observed yearly modulation is in phase with the Earth 19s motion around the Sun. The DAMA detector is a 250 kg stack of NaI(Tl) detectors located in the Grand Sasso laboratory. So far, it is not well explained by proponents nor confirmed by other major Da... Show Full Abstract
The DAMA experiment clearly observes an oscillatory small signal. The observed signal is a very small energy deposit in the NaI(Tl) crystals, at a level of 2-6 keV, believed to be due to interactions of detector nuclei with the Dark Matter. The observed yearly modulation is in phase with the Earth 19s motion around the Sun. The DAMA detector is a 250 kg stack of NaI(Tl) detectors located in the Grand Sasso laboratory. So far, it is not well explained by proponents nor confirmed by other major Dark Matter searching experiments. We propose a new simple way to explain the DAMA signal and why nobody else observes it: rather than collisions of a 6-7 GeV/c2 WIMP with a heavy nucleus, such as Na, I or Tl, we propose that the observed signal is due to a collision of a very lightn ~1 GeV/c2 WIMP with hydrogen nucleus, where the hydrogen target comes from a small (water) contamination of NaI(Tl) crystals. The light WIMP strikes a hydrogen nucleus, producing a proton. Such a proton would then cause the emission of a few photons detected by PMTs. Show Partial Abstract
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  • Interest Categories: Astrophysics