Branden Aitken

Topic

Sub-GeV Dark Matter from Cosmic Ray Bremsstrahlung in the Atmosphere

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Date & location

• Tuesday, September 1, 2026
• 9:00 A.M.
• Clearihue Building, Room B007

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Adam Ritz, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
• Dr. Pavel Kovtun, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

• Dr. Nikita Blinov, Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University

Chair of Oral Examination

• Prof. Merrie Klazek, School of Music, UVic

Abstract

The search for dark matter is a global effort spanning many generations of researchers. One very elusive measurement is the microscopic nature of dark matter. There are three branches of experiments attempting to measure microscopic dark matter: direct detection, indirect detection, and accelerator production. The bremsstrahlung mode is a very common channel for light particle dark matter production within collider and fixed target experiments. Direct detection experiments offer a different approach in trying to measure dark matter directly in the Milky Way halo. Searches for dark matter nucleus scattering lose sensitivity in the sub-GeV mass range due to insufficient scattering energy. The main goal of this thesis is to find if highly energetic cosmic rays can produce dark matter via the bremsstrahlung production mode with favourable kinematics in a direct detection setting. The energy spectrum from this production mechanism is a way to probe the sub-GeV mass range, which has fewer constraints than other areas of the dark matter mass spectrum. These events are capable of leaving signatures in both dark matter and neutrino detectors.