{"paper":{"title":"New Windows on Heavy Dark Matter: Mineral Melt Modelling and X-Ray Readout for Muscovite Mica","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["hep-ex"],"primary_cat":"hep-ph","authors_text":"Aaron Shugar, Alexander Hayes, Andrew Buchanan, Anupam Ray, Jennika McIntosh, Joseph Bramante, Matthew Leybourne, Yilda Boukhtouchen","submitted_at":"2026-06-01T17:59:49Z","abstract_excerpt":"Muscovite mica is a translucent, layered silicate mineral whose basal cleavage, low radiogenic background, gigayear exposures, and demonstrated track retention over geological timescales make it a compelling target for rare particle searches. In this work, we develop a new framework for detecting heavy composite dark matter using muscovite mica as a paleodetector. We model melt track formation by heavy composite dark matter transiting through mica using a Sedov-Taylor thermal spike formalism, and validate the sub-micron regime with SRIM/TRIM simulations of nuclear recoil cascades, which also c"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2606.02579","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2606.02579/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}