First nuclear ultraheavy dark matter search with the DarkSide-50 experiment

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First nuclear ultraheavy dark matter search in argon time projection chambers with the DarkSide-50 experiment

Phys. Rev. D 114, 052001 – Published 3 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r3zg-zlfg

Abstract

We report on the first search for nuclear ultraheavy dark matter (UHDM) in a dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber using the DarkSide-50 experiment. Unlike conventional weakly interacting massive particles, a nuclear UHDM model may be composed of many dark nucleons and scatter numerous times while passing through the detector. Accounting for energy loss through the Earth’s overburden, we apply selection criteria optimized for multiscatter event topologies using the 532-day low-radiation campaign of the DarkSide-50 detector. Excluded limits on the UHDM-nucleon scattering cross section for dark nucleon masses of are presented.

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