Analysis of radiation damage in silicon charge-coupled devices used for dark matter searches

Radiation damage in charge-coupled devices.

Due to their high sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio, charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have been the preferred optical photon detectors of astronomers for several decades. CCDs are flown in space as the main detection instrument on several well-known missions, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, XMM-Newton or the Cassini Probe. Also, CCDs are frequently used in satellite star trackers which pro...

Meyer-Neldel rule for dark current in charge-coupled devices

Direct searches for dark matter

In the last decade considerable additional evidence has been gathered supporting the hypothesis that at least 90% of the mass in the universe is dark: it does not emit or absorb any form of electromagnetic radiation. Understanding this dark matter has become one of the more central problems in astronomy and cosmology. Once a subject of controversy among astronomers, its existence is now well es...

Experimental Searches for Dark Matter

There is now an enormously rich variety of experimental techniques being brought to bear on experimental searches for dark matter, covering a wide range of suggested forms for it. The existence of "dark matter", in some form or other, is inferred from a number of relatively simple observations and the problem has been known for over half a century. To explain "dark matter" is one of the foremos...

Dark Matter Searches

I'll start with a summary of the relevant evidence for cold dark matter from astrophysics and cosmology. The Standard Model of subnuclear physics does not have any dark matter particle, but its simplest extensions, the SUSY models, do have a very apt candidate, the neutralino. I will then briefly summarise the status and the expectations for the next years of indirect searches both with earth-b...