Directional Dependence and Diurnal Modulation in Dark Matter Detectors

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ion channeling in crystal detectors could cause daily variations in dark matter detection signals and affect detector response, enhancing understanding of directional detection methods.

Contribution

It introduces the concept that ion channeling may produce diurnal modulation in dark matter detection rates and impacts the quenching factor in crystal detectors.

Findings

Channeling can cause diurnal modulation in detection rates.

Channeling influences the quenching factor of detectors.

Potential for directional detection of dark matter.

Abstract

In this paper we study the effect of the channeling of ions recoiling from collisions with weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in single crystal detectors. In particular we investigate the possibility that channeling may give rise to diurnal modulations of the counting rate as the Earth rotates relative to the direction of the WIMP wind, and the effect that channeling has on the "quenching factor" of a detector.