First Direct Detection Constraints on Planck-Scale Mass Dark Matter with Multiple-Scatter Signatures Using the DEAP-3600 Detector
Prabal Adhikari, Rahaf Ajaj, M. Alpízar-Venegas, D. J. Auty, H. Benmansour, C. E. Bina, W. Bonivento, M. G. Boulay, M. Cadeddu, B. Cai, Miguel Cárdenas‐Montes, S. Cavuoti, Y. Chen, B. T. Cleveland, J. M. Corning, S. J. Daugherty, P. DelGobbo, P. Di Stefano, L. Doria, M. Dunford, E. Ellingwood, A. Erlandson, S. S. Farahani, N. Fatemighomi, G. Fiorillo, D. Gallacher, P. Garcı́a-Abia, S. Garg, P. Giampa, D. Goeldi, P. Gorel, K. Graham, A. Grobov, A. L. Hallin, M. Hamstra, T. Hugues, A. Ilyasov, A. Joy, B. Jigmeddorj, C. Jillings, O. Kamaev, G. Kaur, A. Kemp, I. Kochanek, M. Kuźniak, M. Laí, S. Langrock, B. Lehnert, A. Leonhardt, N. Levashko, X. Li, M. Lissia, O. Litvinov, James A. Lock, G. Longo, I. Machulin, A. B. McDonald, Thomas McElroy, J. B. McLaughlin, C. Mielnichuk, L. Mirasola, J. Monroe, G. Oliviéro, Sanjoy Kumar Pal, S. J. M. Peeters, M. G. Perry, V. Pesudo, E. Picciau, M.-C. Piro, T. R. Pollmann, Nirmal Raj, E. T. Rand, C. Rethmeier, F. Retière, I. Rodríguez-García, Leszek Roszkowski, J. B. Ruhland, E. García, T. Sánchez-Pastor, R. Santorelli, S. Seth, D. Sinclair, P. Skensved, B. C. Smith, N.J.T. Smith, T. Sonley, R. Stainforth, M. Stringer, B. Sur, E. Vázquez-Jáuregui, S. Viel, J. Walding, Moaz Waqar, M. Ward, S. Westerdale, J. L. Willis, A. Zuñiga-Reyes
Abstract
Dark matter with Planck-scale mass ($\ensuremath{\simeq}{10}^{19}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}/{c}^{2}$) arises in well-motivated theories and could be produced by several cosmological mechanisms. A search for multiscatter signals from supermassive dark matter was performed with a blind analysis of data collected over a 813 d live time with DEAP-3600, a 3.3 t single-phase liquid argon-based detector at SNOLAB. No candidate signals were observed, leading to the first direct detection constraints on Planck-scale mass dark matter. Leading limits constrain dark matter masses between $8.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ and $1.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{19}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}/{c}^{2}$, and $^{40}\mathrm{Ar}$-scattering cross sections between $1.0\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}23}$ and $2.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. These results are interpreted as constraints on composite dark matter models with two different nucleon-to-nuclear cross section scalings.