# Cosmic Ray RF detection with the ASTRONEU array [CL]

Results will be shown from the ASTRONEU array developed and operated in the outskirts of Patras, Greece. An array of 9 scintillator detectors and 3 antennas were deployed to study Extensive Air Showers (EAS) as a tool for calibrating an underwater neutrino telescope, possible other applications in muon tomography, education purposes, and last but not least, the detection of air showers via their electromagnetic signature. This is the first stage of a total of 24 scintillator counters and 6 RF antennas to complete the array. In this work, results with regard to the electromagnetic detection of showers will be shown. The method of operation and analysis will be presented. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the adequacy of the method to detect cosmic events even in the presence of high urban electromagnetic background, using noise filters, timing, signal polarization, and eventual comparison with well understood event reconstruction using the scintillator detectors. The results indicate that cosmic showers were detected and the method can be used for the complete array.

I. Manthos, I. Gkialas, G. Bourlis, et. al.
Tue, 21 Feb 17
1/70

# Search for Astrophysical Tau Neutrinos with IceCube [HEAP]

High-energy (TeV-PeV) cosmic neutrinos are expected to be produced in extremely energetic astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole has recently detected a diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux. While the flux is consistent with all flavors of neutrinos being present, identification of tau neutrinos within the flux is yet to occur. Although tau neutrino production is thought to be low at the source, an equal fraction of neutrinos are expected at Earth due to averaged neutrino oscillations over astronomical distances. Above a few hundred TeV, tau neutrinos become resolvable in IceCube with negligible background from cosmic-ray induced atmospheric neutrinos. Identification of tau neutrinos within the observed flux is crucial to precise measurement of its flavor content, which could serve to test fundamental neutrino properties over extremely long baselines, and possibly shed light on new physics beyond the Standard Model. We present the analysis method and results from a recent search for astrophysical tau neutrinos in three years of IceCube data.

D. Xu and IceCube. Collaboration
Mon, 20 Feb 17
29/37

Comments: 6 pages, 7 figures, proceedings, the 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics

# Two-Higgs-Doublet-Portal Dark-Matter Models in Light of Direct Search and LHC Data [CL]

We explore simple Higgs-portal models of dark matter (DM) with spin 1/2, 3/2, and 1, respectively, applying to them constraints from the LUX and PandaX-II direct detection experiments and from LHC measurements on the 125-GeV Higgs boson. With only one Higgs doublet, we find that the spin-1/2 DM having a purely scalar coupling to the Higgs doublet is viable only in a narrow range of mass near the Higgs pole, whereas the vector DM is still allowed if its mass is also close to the Higgs pole or exceeds 1.4 TeV, both in line with earlier analyses. Moreover, the spin-3/2 DM is in a roughly similar situation to the spin-1/2 DM, but has even more restricted surviving parameter space. We also consider the two-Higgs-doublet extension of each of the preceding models, assuming that the expanded Yukawa sector is that of the two-Higgs-doublet model of type II. We show that in these two-Higgs-doublet-portal models significant portions of the DM mass regions excluded in the simplest scenarios by the direct search bounds can be recovered due to suppression of the DM effective interactions with nucleons at some ratios of the $CP$-even Higgs bosons’ couplings to the up and down quarks. Some parts of the regained parameter space can yield a DM-nucleon scattering cross-section that is far less than its current experimental limit or even goes below the neutrino-background floor.

C. Chang, X. He and J. Tandean
Fri, 17 Feb 17
13/43

Comments: 24 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1609.03551

# New constraints and discovery potential of sub-GeV dark matter with xenon detectors [CL]

Existing xenon dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments can probe the DM-nucleon interaction of DM with a sub-GeV mass through a search for bremsstrahlung from the recoiling xenon atom. We show that LUX’s constraints on sub-GeV DM, which utilise the scintillation (S1) and ionisation (S2) signals, are approximately three orders of magnitude more stringent than previous xenon constraints in this mass range, derived from the XENON10 and XENON100 S2-only searches. The new LUX constraints provide the most stringent direct detection constraints for DM particles with a mass below 0.5 GeV. In addition, the bremsstrahlung signal in LUX and its successor LZ maintain the discrimination between background and signal events so that an unambiguous discovery of sub-GeV DM is possible. We show that LZ has the potential to reconstruct the DM mass with 20% accuracy for particles lighter than 0.5 GeV.

C. McCabe
Fri, 17 Feb 17
20/43

# Photon emission and atomic collision processes in two-phase argon doped with xenon and nitrogen [CL]

We present a comprehensive analysis of photon emission and atomic collision processes in two-phase argon doped with xenon and nitrogen. The dopants are aimed to convert the VUV emission of pure Ar to the UV emission of the Xe dopant in the liquid phase and to the near UV emission of the N2 dopant in the gas phase. Such a mixture is relevant to two-phase dark matter and low energy neutrino detectors, with enhanced photon collection efficiency for primary and secondary scintillation signals. Based on this analysis, we show that the recently proposed hypothesis of the enhancement of the excitation transfer from Ar to N2 species in the two-phase mode is either incorrect or needs assumption about a new extreme mechanism of excitation transfer coming into force at lower temperatures, in particular that of the resonant excitation transfer via ArN2 compound (van der Waals molecule).

A. Buzulutskov
Tue, 14 Feb 17
19/71

Comments: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table

# The ALP miracle: unified inflaton and dark matter [CL]

We propose a scenario where both inflation and dark matter are described by a single axion-like particle (ALP) in a unified manner. In a class of the minimal axion hilltop inflation, the effective masses at the maximum and mimimum of the potential have equal magnitude but opposite sign, so that the ALP inflaton is light both during inflation and in the true vacuum. After inflation, most of the ALPs decay and evaporate into plasma through a coupling to photons, and the remaining ones become dark matter. We find that the observed CMB and matter power spectrum as well as the dark matter abundance point to an ALP of mass $m_\phi = {\cal O}(0.01)$eV and the axion-photon coupling $g_{\phi \gamma \gamma} ={\cal O}(10^{-11})$GeV$^{-1}$: the ALP miracle. The suggested parameter region is within the reach of the next generation axion helioscope, IAXO. Furthermore, thermalized ALPs contribute to hot dark matter and its abundance is given in terms of the effective number of extra neutrino species, $\Delta N_{\rm eff} \simeq 0.03$, which can be tested by the future CMB experiments. We also discuss a case with multiple ALPs, where the coupling to photons can be enhanced in the early Universe by an order of magnitude or more, which enlarges the parameter space for the ALP miracle. The heavy ALPs decay and/or evaporate into the standard model particles and reheats the Universe, and they can be searched for in various experiments such as SHiP.

R. Daido, F. Takahashi and W. Yin
Mon, 13 Feb 17
53/57