We present the results of a search for dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the mass range below $20\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ using a target of low-radioactivity argon with a 6786.0 kg d exposure. The data were obtained using the DarkSide-50 apparatus at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The analysis is based on the ionization signal, for which the DarkSide-50 time projection chamber is fully efficient at $0.1\mathrm{keV}\text{ee}$. The observed rate in the detector at $0.5\mathrm{keV}\text{ee}$ is about $1.5\mathrm{event}/\mathrm{keV}\text{ee}/\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{d}$ and is almost entirely accounted for by known background sources. We obtain a 90% C.L. exclusion limit above $1.8\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ for the spin-independent cross section of dark matter WIMPs on nucleons, extending the exclusion region for dark matter below previous limits in the range $1.8–6\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$.

We present new constraints on sub-GeV dark-matter particles scattering off electrons based on 6780.0 kg d of data collected with the DarkSide-50 dual-phase argon time projection chamber. This analysis uses electroluminescence signals due to ionized electrons extracted from the liquid argon target. The detector has a very high trigger probability for these signals, allowing for an analysis threshold of three extracted electrons, or approximately 0.05 keVee. We calculate the expected recoil spectra for dark matter-electron scattering in argon and, under the assumption of momentum-independent scattering, improve upon existing limits from XENON10 for dark-matter particles with masses between 30 and $100\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$.

Angular distributions of the elastic, inelastic, and breakup cross sections of the halo nucleus ${}^{11}\mathrm{Be}$ on ${}^{197}\mathrm{Au}$ were measured at energies below ($E_{\text{lab}}=31.9\mathrm{MeV}$) and around (39.6 MeV) the Coulomb barrier. These three channels were unambiguously separated for the first time for reactions of ${}^{11}\mathrm{Be}$ on a high-$Z$ target at low energies. The experiment was performed at TRIUMF (Vancouver, Canada). The differential cross sections were compared with three different calculations: semiclassical, inert-core continuum-coupled-channels and continuum-coupled-channels ones with including core deformation. These results show conclusively that the elastic and inelastic differential cross sections can only be accounted for if core-excited admixtures are taken into account. The cross sections for these channels strongly depend on the $\mathcal{B}(E1)$ distribution in ${}^{11}\mathrm{Be}$, and the reaction mechanism is sensitive to the entanglement of core and halo degrees of freedom in ${}^{11}\mathrm{Be}$.

We report on a new cross-section measurement for the 3He($\alpha${}, $\gamma${})7Be reaction at three medium energies of Ec.m. between 1 and 3 MeV. The interest stems from the significant role played by the reaction in calculating an accurate solar neutrino flux and the primordial 7Li abundance. The energy dependence of the astrophysical S34 factor observed in the present work, especially above 1 MeV, highlights the need to constrain theories in order to obtain a precise extrapolated value for S34(0). In this context, a comparison with the recent theoretical work in a fully microscopic fermionic molecular dynamics approach and a few other representative calculations emphasize the need for further experimental as well as theoretical work to resolve the existing conflicts.