Speaker
Description
The Migdal effect predicts the emission of an atomic electron when the respective nucleus is
perturbed. The experimental confirmation of this prediction would imply that current direct
detection experiments are sensitive to dark matter (DM) particles with mass well below the
thresholds typically assumed. In particular, it would have a great impact on the search for sub-GeV
DM particles.
The objective of the Migdal In Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment is
to carry out the first observation of the Migdal effect. To that purpose, MIGDAL will use a neutron
beam to induce the Migdal effect in gas atoms contained in a tracking chamber, and will search for
events with a recoiling nucleus and a ionization electron originating from a common vertex.
This talk will present an overview of MIGDAL. I will first describe and motivate the design
of the experiment. Then I will explain the expected signal, and discuss the respective backgrounds
obtained from dedicated Monte Carlo studies.
