Detecting Low-Energy Interactions and the Effects of Energy Accumulation in Materials

TL;DR

This paper investigates how energy releases from sources like radioactivity in materials can create background noise in sensitive detectors, using existing data and physics insights to understand these effects.

Contribution

It introduces a hypothesis linking energy accumulation and release in materials to detector backgrounds, supported by analysis of existing data and condensed-matter physics.

Findings

Avalanche-like energy releases can produce background signals.

Energy accumulation effects may impact low-energy detector sensitivity.

Analysis suggests material defects contribute to background noise.

Abstract

We hypothesize that avalanche-like releases of energy accumulated in materials due to radioactivity and other sources can produce parasitic background in dark matter particles searches and low-energy threshold detectors. We explore this hypothesis using published data on low-energy background in detectors and available condensed-matter physics information on excitations, defects, and energetic molecules which can be present in materials.