Hydrogenated carbon structures as directional sub-GeV dark matter detectors

TL;DR

Hydrogenated carbon structures are proposed as cost-effective, highly sensitive, and directional detectors for sub-GeV dark matter, capable of detecting proton ejections with minimal energy thresholds.

Contribution

This work introduces hydrogenated carbon structures as novel, technologically feasible dark matter detectors with enhanced sensitivity and directional detection capabilities.

Findings

High sensitivity to dark matter-nucleon interactions in 1-100 MeV range

Clear experimental signature via proton ejection

Potential for improved background rejection

Abstract

We propose hydrogenated carbon structures as targets with a remarkable sensitivity to dark matter-nucleon interactions, in the mass range between the 1 MeV and 100 MeV. The ejection of a proton following the interaction with a dark matter particle is a quasi-elastic process, with an extremely small energy threshold, and a clear experimental signature. The proposed detectors are simple, technologically ready, and inexpensive. Yet, they can be considerably more sensitive than current experiments. They also allow strong directionality, to be used towards efficient background rejection.