Abstract
Dark matter (DM) detectors with directional sensitivity have the potential of yielding an unambiguous positive observation of WIMPs as well as discriminating between galactic DM halo models. In this paper, we introduce the motivation for directional detectors, discuss the experimental techniques that make directional detection possible, and review the status of the experimental effort in this field.
Highlights
Background rejection capabilitiesGaseous Dark matter (DM) detectors have excellent background rejection capability for different kinds of backgrounds
Because its rotation axis is oriented at 48◦ with respect to the direction of the DM wind, an observer on Earth sees the average direction of the WIMPs change by 96◦ every 12 sidereal hours
This modulation in arrival direction should be resolvable by a DM directional detector, e.g. a detector able to determine the direction of the DM particles
Summary
The apparent velocity of the DM wind will increase (decrease) by about 10% in summer (winter), leading to a corresponding increase (decrease) of the observed rates in DM detectors This effect is difficult to detect because the seasonal modulation is expected to be small (a few per cent) and very hard to disentangle from other systematic effects, such as the seasonal dependence of background rates. Because its rotation axis is oriented at 48◦ with respect to the direction of the DM wind, an observer on Earth sees the average direction of the WIMPs change by 96◦ every 12 sidereal hours (figure 1) This modulation in arrival direction should be resolvable by a DM directional detector, e.g. a detector able to determine the direction of the DM particles. This capability makes directional detectors unique observatories for underground WIMP astronomy
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