Rise of the Phoenix: DAMA/LIBRA Claims Detection of Dark Matter

[Chronos]

The DAMA experiment is again asserting detection of dark matter in the galactic halo. An earlier similar claim by the DAMA group was hotly contested several years ago. The new release, DAMA/LIBRA results and perspectives - http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.6243, resurrects the same claim of annual periodicity in detection of candidate dark matter interaction events with a reported 8.9 sigma confidence level. This greatly exceeds the confidence level of the prior release and the high bar of 5 sigma C.L for proof imposed by particle physics standards. It will be interesting to see if this new claim passes muster.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Nobody doubts that they see a wiggle - what the 8.9 sigma number means. What people doubt is that the wiggle is caused by Dark Matter.

 

[mfb]

They see the same effect as before - but I think without an independent confirmation, increasing the number of sigmas is not really interesting. It is not a statistical fluctuation and it is not covered by the systematic uncertainty, taking more and more data will not change this. Either it is a measurement or theory prediction error in some way, or it is new physics.

Edit: Vanadium was quicker

 

[Chalnoth]

The DAMA experiment is again asserting detection of dark matter in the galactic halo. An earlier similar claim by the DAMA group was hotly contested several years ago. The new release, DAMA/LIBRA results and perspectives - http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.6243, resurrects the same claim of annual periodicity in detection of candidate dark matter interaction events with a reported 8.9 sigma confidence level. This greatly exceeds the confidence level of the prior release and the high bar of 5 sigma C.L for proof imposed by particle physics standards. It will be interesting to see if this new claim passes muster.

This is seeming more and more likely to be a signature of dark matter. However, I'd still like to see them publish the daily signal as well, as that should be quite strong enough now to measure, and it would be difficult for any non-DM source to provide a daily signal that corresponds to the yearly signal.