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Title: Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite

Abstract

The SuperCDMS experiment is designed to directly detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that may constitute the dark matter in our Galaxy. During its operation at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, germanium detectors were run in the CDMSlite mode to gather data sets with sensitivity specifically for WIMPs with masses < 10 GeV/c2. In this mode, a higher detector-bias voltage is applied to amplify the phonon signals produced by drifting charges. This article presents studies of the experimental noise and its effect on the achievable energy threshold, which is demonstrated to be as low as 56 eVee (electron equivalent energy). The detector-biasing configuration is described in detail, with analysis corrections for voltage variations to the level of a few percent. Detailed studies of the electric-field geometry, and the resulting successful development of a fiducial parameter, eliminate poorly measured events, yielding an energy resolution ranging from ~ 9 eVee at 0 keV to 101 eVee at ~ 10 keVee. New results are derived for astrophysical uncertainties relevant to the WIMP-search limits, specifically examining how they are affected by variations in the most probable WIMP velocity and the Galactic escape velocity. These variations become more important for WIMP masses below 10 GeV/c2. Finally,more » new limits on spin-dependent low-mass WIMP-nucleon interactions are derived, with new parameter space excluded for WIMP masses ≲ 3 GeV/c2.« less

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
National Science Foundation (NSF); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Org.:
SuperCDMS Collaboration; SuperCDMS
OSTI Identifier:
1419975
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1413685; OSTI ID: 1417221; OSTI ID: 1435109; OSTI ID: 1598295
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-17-265-AE; arXiv:1707.01632
Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010; PRVDAQ; TRN: US1801424
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830; AC02-76SF00515; AC02-07CH11359; 13-S-04; AC02-05CH11231; SC0015657
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review. D.
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 97; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Dark Matter; Galaxy; Particle detectors; cosmic ray & astroparticle detectors; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

Agnese, R., Anderson, A. J., Aralis, T., Aramaki, T., Arnquist, I. J., Baker, W., Balakishiyeva, D., Barker, D., Basu Thakur, R., Bauer, D. A., Binder, T., Bowles, M. A., Brink, P. L., Bunker, R., Cabrera, B., Caldwell, D. O., Calkins, R., Cartaro, C., Cerdeño, D. G., Chang, Y., Chagani, H., Chen, Y., Cooley, J., Cornell, B., Cushman, P., Daal, M., Di Stefano, P. C. F., Doughty, T., Esteban, L., Fascione, E., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Fritts, M., Gerbier, G., Ghaith, M., Godfrey, G. L., Golwala, S. R., Hall, J., Harris, H. R., Hong, Z., Hoppe, E. W., Hsu, L., Huber, M. E., Iyer, V., Jardin, D., Jastram, A., Jena, C., Kelsey, M. H., Kennedy, A., Kubik, A., Kurinsky, N. A., Leder, A., Loer, B., Lopez Asamar, E., Lukens, P., MacDonell, D., Mahapatra, R., Mandic, V., Mast, N., Miller, E. H., Mirabolfathi, N., Moffatt, R. A., Mohanty, B., Morales Mendoza, J. D., Nelson, J., Orrell, J. L., Oser, S. M., Page, K., Page, W. A., Partridge, R., Pepin, M., Peñalver Martinez, M., Phipps, A., Poudel, S., Pyle, M., Qiu, H., Rau, W., Redl, P., Reisetter, A., Reynolds, T., Roberts, A., Robinson, A. E., Rogers, H. E., Saab, T., Sadoulet, B., Sander, J., Schneck, K., Schnee, R. W., Scorza, S., Senapati, K., Serfass, B., Speller, D., Stein, M., Street, J., Tanaka, H. A., Toback, D., Underwood, R., Villano, A. N., von Krosigk, B., Welliver, B., Wilson, J. S., Wilson, M. J., Wright, D. H., Yellin, S., Yen, J. J., Young, B. A., Zhang, X., and Zhao, X. Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevd.97.022002.
Agnese, R., Anderson, A. J., Aralis, T., Aramaki, T., Arnquist, I. J., Baker, W., Balakishiyeva, D., Barker, D., Basu Thakur, R., Bauer, D. A., Binder, T., Bowles, M. A., Brink, P. L., Bunker, R., Cabrera, B., Caldwell, D. O., Calkins, R., Cartaro, C., Cerdeño, D. G., Chang, Y., Chagani, H., Chen, Y., Cooley, J., Cornell, B., Cushman, P., Daal, M., Di Stefano, P. C. F., Doughty, T., Esteban, L., Fascione, E., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Fritts, M., Gerbier, G., Ghaith, M., Godfrey, G. L., Golwala, S. R., Hall, J., Harris, H. R., Hong, Z., Hoppe, E. W., Hsu, L., Huber, M. E., Iyer, V., Jardin, D., Jastram, A., Jena, C., Kelsey, M. H., Kennedy, A., Kubik, A., Kurinsky, N. A., Leder, A., Loer, B., Lopez Asamar, E., Lukens, P., MacDonell, D., Mahapatra, R., Mandic, V., Mast, N., Miller, E. H., Mirabolfathi, N., Moffatt, R. A., Mohanty, B., Morales Mendoza, J. D., Nelson, J., Orrell, J. L., Oser, S. M., Page, K., Page, W. A., Partridge, R., Pepin, M., Peñalver Martinez, M., Phipps, A., Poudel, S., Pyle, M., Qiu, H., Rau, W., Redl, P., Reisetter, A., Reynolds, T., Roberts, A., Robinson, A. E., Rogers, H. E., Saab, T., Sadoulet, B., Sander, J., Schneck, K., Schnee, R. W., Scorza, S., Senapati, K., Serfass, B., Speller, D., Stein, M., Street, J., Tanaka, H. A., Toback, D., Underwood, R., Villano, A. N., von Krosigk, B., Welliver, B., Wilson, J. S., Wilson, M. J., Wright, D. H., Yellin, S., Yen, J. J., Young, B. A., Zhang, X., & Zhao, X. Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.97.022002
Agnese, R., Anderson, A. J., Aralis, T., Aramaki, T., Arnquist, I. J., Baker, W., Balakishiyeva, D., Barker, D., Basu Thakur, R., Bauer, D. A., Binder, T., Bowles, M. A., Brink, P. L., Bunker, R., Cabrera, B., Caldwell, D. O., Calkins, R., Cartaro, C., Cerdeño, D. G., Chang, Y., Chagani, H., Chen, Y., Cooley, J., Cornell, B., Cushman, P., Daal, M., Di Stefano, P. C. F., Doughty, T., Esteban, L., Fascione, E., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Fritts, M., Gerbier, G., Ghaith, M., Godfrey, G. L., Golwala, S. R., Hall, J., Harris, H. R., Hong, Z., Hoppe, E. W., Hsu, L., Huber, M. E., Iyer, V., Jardin, D., Jastram, A., Jena, C., Kelsey, M. H., Kennedy, A., Kubik, A., Kurinsky, N. A., Leder, A., Loer, B., Lopez Asamar, E., Lukens, P., MacDonell, D., Mahapatra, R., Mandic, V., Mast, N., Miller, E. H., Mirabolfathi, N., Moffatt, R. A., Mohanty, B., Morales Mendoza, J. D., Nelson, J., Orrell, J. L., Oser, S. M., Page, K., Page, W. A., Partridge, R., Pepin, M., Peñalver Martinez, M., Phipps, A., Poudel, S., Pyle, M., Qiu, H., Rau, W., Redl, P., Reisetter, A., Reynolds, T., Roberts, A., Robinson, A. E., Rogers, H. E., Saab, T., Sadoulet, B., Sander, J., Schneck, K., Schnee, R. W., Scorza, S., Senapati, K., Serfass, B., Speller, D., Stein, M., Street, J., Tanaka, H. A., Toback, D., Underwood, R., Villano, A. N., von Krosigk, B., Welliver, B., Wilson, J. S., Wilson, M. J., Wright, D. H., Yellin, S., Yen, J. J., Young, B. A., Zhang, X., and Zhao, X. 2018. "Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.97.022002. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1419975.
@article{osti_1419975,
title = {Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite},
author = {Agnese, R. and Anderson, A. J. and Aralis, T. and Aramaki, T. and Arnquist, I. J. and Baker, W. and Balakishiyeva, D. and Barker, D. and Basu Thakur, R. and Bauer, D. A. and Binder, T. and Bowles, M. A. and Brink, P. L. and Bunker, R. and Cabrera, B. and Caldwell, D. O. and Calkins, R. and Cartaro, C. and Cerdeño, D. G. and Chang, Y. and Chagani, H. and Chen, Y. and Cooley, J. and Cornell, B. and Cushman, P. and Daal, M. and Di Stefano, P. C. F. and Doughty, T. and Esteban, L. and Fascione, E. and Figueroa-Feliciano, E. and Fritts, M. and Gerbier, G. and Ghaith, M. and Godfrey, G. L. and Golwala, S. R. and Hall, J. and Harris, H. R. and Hong, Z. and Hoppe, E. W. and Hsu, L. and Huber, M. E. and Iyer, V. and Jardin, D. and Jastram, A. and Jena, C. and Kelsey, M. H. and Kennedy, A. and Kubik, A. and Kurinsky, N. A. and Leder, A. and Loer, B. and Lopez Asamar, E. and Lukens, P. and MacDonell, D. and Mahapatra, R. and Mandic, V. and Mast, N. and Miller, E. H. and Mirabolfathi, N. and Moffatt, R. A. and Mohanty, B. and Morales Mendoza, J. D. and Nelson, J. and Orrell, J. L. and Oser, S. M. and Page, K. and Page, W. A. and Partridge, R. and Pepin, M. and Peñalver Martinez, M. and Phipps, A. and Poudel, S. and Pyle, M. and Qiu, H. and Rau, W. and Redl, P. and Reisetter, A. and Reynolds, T. and Roberts, A. and Robinson, A. E. and Rogers, H. E. and Saab, T. and Sadoulet, B. and Sander, J. and Schneck, K. and Schnee, R. W. and Scorza, S. and Senapati, K. and Serfass, B. and Speller, D. and Stein, M. and Street, J. and Tanaka, H. A. and Toback, D. and Underwood, R. and Villano, A. N. and von Krosigk, B. and Welliver, B. and Wilson, J. S. and Wilson, M. J. and Wright, D. H. and Yellin, S. and Yen, J. J. and Young, B. A. and Zhang, X. and Zhao, X.},
abstractNote = {The SuperCDMS experiment is designed to directly detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that may constitute the dark matter in our Galaxy. During its operation at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, germanium detectors were run in the CDMSlite mode to gather data sets with sensitivity specifically for WIMPs with masses < 10 GeV/c2. In this mode, a higher detector-bias voltage is applied to amplify the phonon signals produced by drifting charges. This article presents studies of the experimental noise and its effect on the achievable energy threshold, which is demonstrated to be as low as 56 eVee (electron equivalent energy). The detector-biasing configuration is described in detail, with analysis corrections for voltage variations to the level of a few percent. Detailed studies of the electric-field geometry, and the resulting successful development of a fiducial parameter, eliminate poorly measured events, yielding an energy resolution ranging from ~ 9 eVee at 0 keV to 101 eVee at ~ 10 keVee. New results are derived for astrophysical uncertainties relevant to the WIMP-search limits, specifically examining how they are affected by variations in the most probable WIMP velocity and the Galactic escape velocity. These variations become more important for WIMP masses below 10 GeV/c2. Finally, new limits on spin-dependent low-mass WIMP-nucleon interactions are derived, with new parameter space excluded for WIMP masses ≲ 3 GeV/c2.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevd.97.022002},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1419975}, journal = {Physical Review. D.},
issn = {2470-0010},
number = 2,
volume = 97,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Wed Jan 17 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1. Figure 1.: Differential rates for WIMP recoils on a germanium target as functions of recoil energy. WIMPs with WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of 10−41 cm2 and masses of 2, 5, and 10 GeV/c2 are considered. The bands encompassing each curve are computed by varying the astrophysical parameters of the darkmore » matter halo within known observational uncertainties. The vertical lines designate example nuclear-recoil thresholds of 0.5 and 2 keV, respectively.« less

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