Mineral Detection of Neutrinos and Dark Matter 2026 Proceedings

arXiv:2609.20552 · physics.ins-det, astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.IM, hep-ex, hep-ph · Submitted 2026-09-17 · Read on arXiv

physics.ins-det, astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.IM, hep-ex, hep-ph

Submitted: 2026-09-17

Updated: 2026-09-17

Comments: Summary and proceedings of the MDvDM'26 conference, April 14-17 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany

Code: https://github.com/KIT-Dark-Matter/PaleoDM_ML_Development

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: The fourth "Mineral Detection of Neutrinos and Dark Matter" (MDvDM'26) meeting was held April 14-17, 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany, hosted by the Institute for Astroparticle Physics (IAP) at Karlsruhe

Terminology

Calibration — 25× in this paper · explained in 7 episodes
Molecular Dynamics — 21× in this paper
Benchmark — 18× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Virginia Tech — 14× in this paper
University of Michigan — 11× in this paper
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology — 8× in this paper
Standard Model — 8× in this paper
Simulation-based Inference — 7× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Abundance — 6× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
Inverse Problem — 6× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Milky Way — 6× in this paper
Core — 5× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Accuracy — 4× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
Institute for Astroparticle Physics — 4× in this paper
Large Magellanic Cloud — 4× in this paper
Quantum Technology Center — 4× in this paper
Strange Quark Matter — 4× in this paper
Ab Initio — 3× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
Domain Walls — 3× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter — 3× in this paper
Forward modeling — 2× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Phase Transitions — 2× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Simulation-Based Inference (SBI) — 2× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
Standard Halo Model — 2× in this paper
Verification — 2× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
APS Center for Nanoscale Materials — 1× in this paper
Ablation — 1× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
Adam — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Anisotropy — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
Atomic Force Microscopy — 1× in this paper
Center for Mathematical Science and Advanced Technology — 1× in this paper
Clustering — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
DFT Calculations — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Density Functional Theory (DFT) — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Focused-Ion Beam — 1× in this paper
Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe — 1× in this paper
Matter Power Spectrum — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Momentum transfer — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
Quantization — 1× in this paper · explained in 12 episodes
SAXs and the Helium Ion Beam Microscopy — 1× in this paper
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy — 1× in this paper
Selective-Plane Illumination Microscopy — 1× in this paper
Trace — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
U-net architecture — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
Vienna Ab Initio Software Package — 1× in this paper
alpha — 1× in this paper · explained in 1 episode

Abstract

The fourth "Mineral Detection of Neutrinos and Dark Matter" (MDvDM'26) meeting was held April 14-17, 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany, hosted by the Institute for Astroparticle Physics (IAP) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). These proceedings detail the contributions that were presented during MDvDM'26, illustrating the unprecedented progress in theoretical, computational and experimental studies towards the realization of the concept of mineral detectors. Mineral detectors represent an emerging particle detection concept that has risen in prominence in recent years due to the advent of modern computational and high-resolution microscopy techniques. Natural and synthetic crystals are capable of retaining microscopic damage features induced by nuclear recoils, which could be then read out with a variety of micrometer and nanometer resolution microscopy techniques. On laboratory time scales mineral detectors could be employed for reactor neutrino monitoring and dark matter detection, with the potential to measure the directions as well as the energies of the induced nuclear recoils. Uniquely, ancient natural crystals (so-called paleo-detectors) that have been recording nuclear recoils over geological timescales could be used for studying astrophysical neutrinos, cosmic rays, dark matter and heavy exotic particles, as well as the variation of their fluxes over our Galaxy's lifetime. In recent years the international MDvDM community has been successfully tackling the challenges associated with realizing the concept of mineral detectors, opening the pathway towards a fully fledged experimental program and potential future discoveries.

Mineral Detection of Neutrinos and Dark Matter 2026 Proceedings

Terminology

Abstract

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