Project description
Innovative gamma-ray telescope sheds light on ultra-heavy dark matter
Among proposed candidates for dark matter are weakly interacting massive particles, conventionally associated with a mass of less than 100 teraelectronvolts (TeV) or 100 trillion electron volts. Ultraheavy dark matter, with a mass range greater than 100 TeV, is emerging as an alternative candidate. The ERC-funded Dark100 project aims to search for dark matter particles between 100 TeV and several tens of petaelectronvolts. To do so, it will leverage novel, cost-effective telescope technology. Not only will Dark100 lead to a novel dataset supporting observational and theoretical insight, but it will also foster future over-100 TeV astrophysical studies with its pioneering gamma-ray telescope paradigm.
Objective
Dark100 will shine a light into an underexplored dark matter particle mass range. Driven by recent theoretical developments, both in tools and motivation, Dark100 will search for dark matter particles between 100 TeV and several tens of PeV. Leveraging novel, cost-effective telescope technology, Dark100 will deploy an array of telescopes capable of probing dark matter annihilation, improving on the sensitivity of currently operating and planned gamma-ray instruments by an order of magnitude with unprecedented energy and angular resolution.
Dark100 will build a unique dataset of deep gamma-ray observations of dark-matter-rich astrophysical systems. Dark matter will potentially be detected, or in the event of non-detection, limits on its velocity-weighted annihilation cross section will be set. For a non-detection, dark matter will be ruled out for part of the probed mass range and theoretical models constrained for the full probed mass range.
The impact of Dark100 will be felt beyond the dark matter community. By demonstrating a new gamma-ray telescope paradigm, Dark100 will enable a range of possible astrophysical studies with gamma rays above 100 TeV, including searches for Galactic Pevatrons and transient events. Its public data archive will encourage synergy with other gamma-ray instruments.
Dark100 takes advantage of a unique moment in theoretical and technological development that enables its pioneering science goals. While the theoretical motivation is fully developed and the technology is well-tested, the deployment of the Dark100 array and collection and interpretation of its observations is an ambitious project that demands the resources of an ERC consolidator grant. The PI's leadership in dark matter searches and gamma-ray analysis and simulation make her ideally suited to direct this program.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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44801 Bochum
Germany
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