skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Das, Saikat"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. Composite asymmetric dark matter (ADM) is the framework that naturally explains the coincidence of the baryon density and the dark matter density of the Universe. Through a portal interaction sharing particle-antiparticle asymmetries in the Standard Model and dark sectors, dark matter particles, which are dark-sector counterparts of baryons, can decay into antineutrinos and dark-sector counterparts of mesons (dark mesons) or dark photon. Subsequent cascade decay of the dark mesons and the dark photon can also provide electromagnetic fluxes at late times of the Universe. The cosmic-ray constraints on the decaying dark matter with the mass of 1–10 GeV has not been well studied. We perform comprehensive studies on the decay of the composite ADM by combining the astrophysical constraints from e ± and γ ray. The constraints from cosmic-ray positron measurements by AMS-02 are the most stringent at 2 GeV : a lifetime should be larger than the order of 10 26 s , corresponding to the cutoff scale of the portal interaction of about 10 8 10 9 GeV . We also perform the dedicated analysis for the neutrino monoenergetic signals at Super-Kamiokande and Hyper-Kamiokande due to the atmospheric neutrino background in the energy range of our interest. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available July 1, 2026
  2. Ultrahigh-energy neutrinos ( UHE ν s) can be used as a valuable probe of superheavy dark matter above 10 9 GeV , the latter being difficult to probe with collider and direct detection experiments due to the feebly interacting nature. Searching for radio emissions originating from the interaction of UHE ν s with the lunar regolith enables us to explore energies beyond 10 12 GeV , which astrophysical accelerators cannot achieve. Taking into account the interaction of UHE ν s with the cosmic neutrino background and resulting standard neutrino cascades to calculate the neutrino flux on Earth, for the first time, we investigate sensitivities of such lunar radio observations to very heavy dark matter. We also examine the impacts of cosmogenic neutrinos that have the astrophysical origin. We show that the proposed ultralong wavelength lunar radio telescope, as well as the existing low-frequency array, can provide the most stringent constraints on decaying or annihilating superheavy dark matter with masses at 10 12 GeV . The limits are complementary to or even stronger than those from other UHE ν detectors, such as the IceCube-Gen2 radio array and the Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  3. null (Ed.)
    Abstract Dielectrics have long been considered as unsuitable for pure electrical switches; under weak electric fields, they show extremely low conductivity, whereas under strong fields, they suffer from irreversible damage. Here, we show that flexoelectricity enables damage-free exposure of dielectrics to strong electric fields, leading to reversible switching between electrical states—insulating and conducting. Applying strain gradients with an atomic force microscope tip polarizes an ultrathin film of an archetypal dielectric SrTiO 3 via flexoelectricity, which in turn generates non-destructive, strong electrostatic fields. When the applied strain gradient exceeds a certain value, SrTiO 3 suddenly becomes highly conductive, yielding at least around a 10 8 -fold decrease in room-temperature resistivity. We explain this phenomenon, which we call the colossal flexoresistance, based on the abrupt increase in the tunneling conductance of ultrathin SrTiO 3 under strain gradients. Our work extends the scope of electrical control in solids, and inspires further exploration of dielectric responses to strong electromechanical fields. 
    more » « less