First Direct Limits on Lightly Ionizing Particles with Electric Charge Less than $e/6$

Journal Article · Wed Mar 18 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.114.111302· OSTI ID:1253345

Agnese, R.; Anderson, A. J.; Balakishiyeva, D.; Basu Thakur, R.; Bauer, D. A.; Billard, J.; Borgland, A.; Bowles, M. A.; Brandt, D.; Brink, P. L.; Bunker, R.; Cabrera, B.; Caldwell, D. O.; Cerdeno, D. G.; Chagani, H.; Chen, Y.; Cooley, J.; Cornell, B.; Crewdson, C. H.; Cushman, P. ; Daal, M.; Di Stefano, P. C. F.; Doughty, T.; Esteban, L.; Fallows, S.; Figueroa-Feliciano, E.; Godfrey, G. L.; Golwala, S. R.; Hall, J.; Harris, H. R.; Hertel, S. A.; Hofer, T.; Holmgren, D.; Hsu, L.; Huber, M. E.; Jastram, A.; Kamaev, O.; Kara, B.; Kelsey, M. H.; Kennedy, A.; Kiveni, M.; Koch, K.; Leder, A.; Loer, B.; Lopez Asamar, E.; Mahapatra, R.; Mandic, V.; Martinez, C.; McCarthy, K. A.; Mirabolfathi, N.; Moffatt, R. A.; Moore, D. C.; Nelson, H.; Nelson, R. H.; Ogburn, R. W.; Page, K.; Page, W. A.; Partridge, R.; Pepin, M.; Phipps, A.; Prasad, K.; Pyle, M.; Qiu, H.; Rau, W.; Redl, P.; Reisetter, A.; Ricci, Y.; Rogers, H. E.; Saab, T.; Sadoulet, B.; Sander, J.; Schneck, K.; Schnee, R. W.; Scorza, S.; Serfass, B.; Shank, B.; Speller, D.; Upadhyayula, S.; Villano, A. N.; Welliver, B.; Wright, D. H.; Yellin, S.; Yen, J. J.; Young, B. A.; Zhang, J.

While the Standard Model of particle physics does not include free particles with fractional charge, experimental searches have not ruled out their existence. We report results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment that give the first direct-detection limits for cosmogenically- produced relativistic particles with electric charge lower than e/6. A search for tracks in the six stacked detectors of each of two of the CDMS II towers found no candidates, thereby excluding new parameter space for particles with electric charges between e/6 and e/200.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Contributing Organization: CDMS Collaboration
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1253345
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 11; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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