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I will present a novel way of probing non-gravitational dark matter interactions: dark astronomy, which leverages the dark radiation emitted by dissipative dark sectors. If the mediator of the dark matter self interactions is a dark photon with a small mass that kinetically mixes with the visible photon, the dark radiation flux becomes accessible to underground experiments. I will argue that the emission may be dominantly longitudinally polarized, thereby enhancing the sensitivity of direct detection experiments such as XENON and SENSEI to this signal. I will introduce a new detection mechanism based on resonant dark-photon-to-photon conversion at the surface of conducting materials, which offers unique directional sensitivity to dark radiation. This mechanism facilitates the development of experiments that combine dark matter detection techniques with methods of traditional astronomy, opening the possibility to map dark radiation sources within our galaxy.

The McDonald Institute seminar will be held in Stirling 501. A zoom link is also available and was shared via email from Melissa Diamond or Aaron Vincent. Please reach out to them to get access.