Erlangen 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 26: Instrumentation V

HK 26.3: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 18. März 2026, 14:15–14:30, PHIL A 301

Study of a low-temperature SiPM readout system for DarkMESA — •Christian Stoß for the MAGIX collaboration — Institute for Nuclear Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

The existence of dark matter remains one of the most significant open questions in particle physics. The DarkMESA experiment aims to search for light dark matter (LDM) in an unexplored mass and coupling regime. This parasitic beam dump experiment will be located downstream of the P2 experiment at the new MESA accelerator in Mainz. It is planned to operate for several thousands of hours in extracted beam mode, using a 150 μA electron beam with an energy of 155 MeV. In the simplest model of LDM, the electrons might produce the dark photon as a massive vector particle via a Bremsstrahlung-like process in the beam dump, which then decay into dark matter particles. If LDM exists within the targeted parameter space, a fraction of the produced LDM will scatter off electrons in one of the calorimeters' Cherenkov crystals, generating a measurable signal.

Given the low probability of such an event, dark counts can significantly overlay the interesting signal. This presentation will focus on a feasibility study for a readout system consisting of one PMT with additional 5 cooled SiPMs per crystal as a small test setup. Initial measurements with a constant overvoltage and temperature dependent breakdown voltage will be presented. The aim is the reduction of dark counts while maintaining high detector efficiency for different temperatures.

Keywords: DarkMESA; Light Dark Matter; Silicon Photomultiplier; Cooling; Dark counts