The search for light dark matter with DAMIC-M

TL;DR

DAMIC-M is an underground experiment using advanced CCD technology to detect low-mass dark matter particles with unprecedented sensitivity, building on prototype results and ongoing detector development.

Contribution

This paper introduces the DAMIC-M experiment, highlighting its innovative use of skipper CCDs for low-threshold dark matter detection and reporting on prototype results and construction progress.

Findings

Prototype detector demonstrated effective low-energy threshold

CCD modules show promising test performance

Detector construction is progressing at LSM

Abstract

The DAMIC-M (DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane) experiment will use skipper CCDs to search for low mass (sub-GeV) dark matter underground at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) in France. With about 1 kg of silicon target mass and sub-electron energy resolution, the detector will surpass the exposure and threshold (eV-scale) of previous experiments. Thus, DAMIC-M will have world-leading sensitivity to a variety of "hidden sector" candidates. In this talk, we will report on science results from a prototype detector, test performance of CCD modules, and the status of the detector construction at LSM.