J. Sander

Search for low-mass weakly interacting massive particles with SuperCDMS.

We report a first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using the background rejection capabilities of SuperCDMS. An exposure of 577 kg-days was analyzed for WIMPs with mass < 30 GeV/c2, with the signal region blinded. Eleven events were observed after unblinding. We set an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 1.2e-42 cm2 at 8 GeV/c2. This result is in tension with WIMP interpretations of recent experiments and probes new parameter space for WIMP-nucleon scattering for WIMP masses < 6 GeV/c2.

New Results from the Search for Low-Mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles with the CDMS Low Ionization Threshold Experiment

R. Agnese, A.J. Anderson, T. Aramaki, M. Asai, W. Baker, D. Balakishiyeva, D. Barker, R. Basu Thakur, 23 D.A. Bauer, J. Billard, A. Borgland, M.A. Bowles, P.L. Brink, R. Bunker, B. Cabrera, D.O. Caldwell, R. Calkins, D.G. Cerdeno, H. Chagani, Y. Chen, J. Cooley, B. Cornell, P. Cushman, M. Daal, P.C.F. Di Stefano, T. Doughty, L. Esteban, S. Fallows, E. Figueroa-Feliciano, M. Ghaith, G.L. Godfrey, S.R. Golwala, J. Hall, H.R. Harris, T. Hofer, D. Holmgren, L. Hsu, M.E. Huber, D. Jardin, A. Jastram, O. Kamaev, B. Kara, M.H. Kelsey, A. Kennedy, A. Leder, B. Loer, E. Lopez Asamar, P. Lukens, R. Mahapatra, V. Mandic, N. Mast, N. Mirabolfathi, R.A. Moffatt, J.D. Morales Mendoza, S.M. Oser, K. Page, W.A. Page, R. Partridge, M. Pepin, ∗ A. Phipps, K. Prasad, M. Pyle, H. Qiu, W. Rau, P. Redl, A. Reisetter, Y. Ricci, A. Roberts, H.E. Rogers, T. Saab, B. Sadoulet, 4 J. Sander, K. Schneck, R.W. Schnee, S. Scorza, B. Serfass, B. Shank, D. Speller, D. Toback, R. Underwood, S. Upadhyayula, A.N. Villano, B. Welliver, J.S. Wilson, D.H. Wright, S. Yellin, J.J. Yen, B.A. Young, and J. Zhang

Search for Low-Mass WIMPs with SuperCDMS

We report a first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using the background rejection capabilities of SuperCDMS. An exposure of 577 kg-days was analyzed for WIMPs with mass < 30 GeV/c2, with the signal region blinded. Eleven events were observed after unblinding. We set an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 1.2e-42 cm2 at 8 GeV/c2. This result is in tension with WIMP interpretations of recent experiments and probes new parameter space for WIMP-nucleon scattering for WIMP masses < 6 GeV/c2.

Low-threshold analysis of CDMS shallow-site data

Data taken during the final shallow-site run of the first tower of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) detectors have been reanalyzed with improved sensitivity to small energy depositions. Four {approx}224 g germanium and two {approx}105 g silicon detectors were operated at the Stanford Underground Facility (SUF) between December 2001 and June 2002, yielding 118 live days of raw exposure. Three of the germanium and both silicon detectors were analyzed with a new low-threshold technique, making it possible to lower the germanium and silicon analysis thresholds down to the actual trigger thresholds of {approx}1 and {approx}2 keV, respectively. Limits on the spin-independent cross section for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) to elastically scatter from nuclei based on these data exclude interesting parameter space for WIMPs with masses below 9 GeV/c{sup 2}. Under standard halo assumptions, these data partially exclude parameter space favored by interpretations of the DAMA/LIBRA and CoGeNT experiments data as WIMP signals, and exclude new parameter space for WIMP masses between 3 and 4 GeV/c{sup 2}.

Silicon detector results from the first five-tower run of CDMS II

We report results of a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with the Si detectors of the CDMS II experiment. This report describes a blind analysis of the first data taken with CDMS II’s full complement of detectors in 2006–2007; results from this exposure using the Ge detectors have already been presented. We observed no candidate WIMP-scattering events in an exposure of 55.9 kg-days before analysis cuts, with an expected background of ∼1.1 events. The exposure of this analysis is equivalent to 10.3 kg-days over a recoil energy range of 7–100 keV for an ideal Si detector and a WIMP mass of 10  GeV/c^2. These data set an upper limit of 1.7×10^(-41)  cm^2 on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of a 10  GeV/c^2 WIMP. These data exclude parameter space for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering that is relevant to recent searches for low-mass WIMPs.

Projected sensitivity of the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment

SuperCDMS SNOLAB will be a next-generation experiment aimed at directly detecting low-mass particles (with masses ≤ 10 GeV/c^2) that may constitute dark matter by using cryogenic detectors of two types (HV and iZIP) and two target materials (germanium and silicon). The experiment is being designed with an initial sensitivity to nuclear recoil cross sections ∼ 1×10^(−43) cm^2 for a dark matter particle mass of 1 GeV/c^2, and with capacity to continue exploration to both smaller masses and better sensitivities. The phonon sensitivity of the HV detectors will be sufficient to detect nuclear recoils from sub-GeV dark matter. A detailed calibration of the detector response to low-energy recoils will be needed to optimize running conditions of the HV detectors and to interpret their data for dark matter searches. Low-activity shielding, and the depth of SNOLAB, will reduce most backgrounds, but cosmogenically produced ^3H and naturally occurring ^(32)Si will be present in the detectors at some level. Even if these backgrounds are 10 times higher than expected, the science reach of the HV detectors would be over 3 orders of magnitude beyond current results for a dark matter mass of 1 GeV/c^2. The iZIP detectors are relatively insensitive to variations in detector response and backgrounds, and will provide better sensitivity for dark matter particles with masses ≳ 5 GeV/c^2. The mix of detector types (HV and iZIP), and targets (germanium and silicon), planned for the experiment, as well as flexibility in how the detectors are operated, will allow us to maximize the low-mass reach, and understand the backgrounds that the experiment will encounter. Upgrades to the experiment, perhaps with a variety of ultra-low-background cryogenic detectors, will extend dark matter sensitivity down to the “neutrino floor,” where coherent scatters of solar neutrinos become a limiting background.

Improved WIMP-search reach of the CDMS II germanium data

CDMS II data from the five-tower runs at the Soudan Underground Laboratory were reprocessed with an improved charge-pulse fitting algorithm. Two new analysis techniques to reject surface-event backgrounds were applied to the 612 kg days germanium-detector weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-search exposure. An extended analysis was also completed by decreasing the 10 keV analysis threshold to ∼5  keV, to increase sensitivity near a WIMP mass of 8  GeV/c^2. After unblinding, there were zero candidate events above a deposited energy of 10 keV and six events in the lower-threshold analysis. This yielded minimum WIMP-nucleon spin-independent scattering cross-section limits of 1.8×10^(−44) and 1.18×10^(−41) at 90% confidence for 60 and 8.6  GeV/c^2 WIMPs, respectively. This improves the previous CDMS II result by a factor of 2.4 (2.7) for 60 (8.6)  GeV/c^2 WIMPs.

Demonstration of surface electron rejection with interleaved germanium detectors for dark matter searches

The SuperCDMS experiment in the Soudan Underground Laboratory searches for dark matter with a 9-kg array of cryogenic germanium detectors. Symmetric sensors on opposite sides measure both charge and phonons from each particle interaction, providing excellent discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils, and between surface and interior events. Surface event rejection capabilities were tested with two ^(210)Pb sources producing ∼130 beta decays/hr. In ∼800 live hours, no events leaked into the 8–115 keV signal region, giving upper limit leakage fraction 1.7 × 10^(−5) at 90% C.L., corresponding to < 0.6 surface event background in the future 200-kg SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment.

The SuperCDMS Experiment

Modest improvements in the level and/or discrimination of backgrounds are needed to keep backgrounds negligible during the three phases of SuperCDMS. By developing production designs that require only modest testing, detector production rates may be improved sufficiently to allow an exposure of 500 ton d within a reasonable time and budget. Overall, the improvement estimates described above are conservative. Previous development efforts have shown that some areas prove easier and provide larger factors while others prove more difficult. The conservative estimates together with the broad approach reduce the risk and give us confidence that we will succeed, providing the surest way to probe to WIMP-nucleon cross sections of 10{sup -46} cm{sup 2}.

Dark matter effective field theory scattering in direct detection experiments

We examine the consequences of the effective field theory (EFT) of dark matter–nucleon scattering for current and proposed direct detection experiments. Exclusion limits on EFT coupling constants computed using the optimum interval method are presented for SuperCDMS Soudan, CDMS II, and LUX, and the necessity of combining results from multiple experiments in order to determine dark matter parameters is discussed. We demonstrate that spectral differences between the standard dark matter model and a general EFT interaction can produce a bias when calculating exclusion limits and when developing signal models for likelihood and machine learning techniques. We also discuss the implications of the EFT for the next-generation (G2) direct detection experiments and point out regions of complementarity in the EFT parameter space.