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Detecting fluorescent dark matter with X-ray lasers.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Fairbairn, Malcolm 

Abstract

Fluorescent dark matter has been suggested as a possible explanation of both the 3.5 keV excess in the diffuse emission of the Perseus Cluster and of the deficit at the same energy in the central active galaxy within that cluster, NGC 1275. In this work we point out that such a dark matter candidate can be searched for at the new X-ray laser facilities that are currently being built and starting to operate around the world. We present one possible experimental set up where the laser is passed through a narrow cylinder lined with lead shielding. Fluorescent dark matter would be excited upon interaction with the laser photons and travel across the lead shielding to decay outside the cylinder, in a region which has been instrumented with X-ray detectors. For an instrumented length of 7 cm at the LCLS-II laser we expect O (1-10) such events per week for parameters which explain the astronomical observations.

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Keywords

0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences

Journal Title

Eur Phys J C Part Fields

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1434-6044
1434-6052

Volume Title

78

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/P000681/1)
Peterhouse