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Search for low-mass dark matter with CDMSlite using a profile likelihood fit

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search low ionization threshold experiment (CDMSlite) searches for interactions between dark matter particles and germanium nuclei in cryogenic detectors. The experiment has achieved a low energy threshold with improved sensitivity to low-mass (<10 GeV/c2) dark matter particles. We present an analysis of the final CDMSlite dataset, taken with a different detector than was used for the two previous CDMSlite datasets. This analysis includes a data “salting” method to protect against bias, improved noise discrimination, background modeling, and the use of profile likelihood methods to search for a dark matter signal in the presence of backgrounds. We achieve an energy threshold of 70 eV and significantly improve the sensitivity for dark matter particles with masses between 2.5 and 10 GeV/c2 compared to previous analyses. Here, we set an upper limit on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section in germanium of 5.4×10-42 cm2 at 5 GeV/c2, a factor of ~2.5 improvement over the previous CDMSlite result.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
Contributing Organization:
SuperCDMS
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1478020
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1523195
OSTI ID: 1526707
OSTI ID: 1546191
OSTI ID: 1550884
OSTI ID: 1598287
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-18-435-AE; arXiv:1808.09098; oai:inspirehep.net:1691860
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 99; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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