Speaker
Description
We propose hydrogenated carbon structures, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, 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. We employ Density Functional Theory (DFT) to model the electron dynamics during the scattering events that result in proton emissions and to characterize the interactions of low-energy protons with carbon structures.