M. Fritts

Dark matter search results from the CDMS II experiment.

News from the Dark Side? Dark matter is thought to represent 85% of all matter in the universe and to have been responsible for the formation of structure in the early universe, but its nature is still a mystery. Ahmed et al. (p. 1619, published online 11 February; see the Perspective by Lang) describe the results from the completed Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment, which searched for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP). Two candidate signals were observed, whereas only one background event was expected. The probability of having two or more events from the background would have been 23%. The results of this analysis cannot be interpreted with confidence as evidence for WIMP interactions, but, at the same time, neither event can be ruled out as representing signal. Details of possible, but unlikely, detection events produced by dark matter are reported. Astrophysical observations indicate that dark matter constitutes most of the mass in our universe, but its nature remains unknown. Over the past decade, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment has provided world-leading sensitivity for the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. The final exposure of our low-temperature germanium particle detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory yielded two candidate events, with an expected background of 0.9 ± 0.2 events. This is not statistically significant evidence for a WIMP signal. The combined CDMS II data place the strongest constraints on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent scattering cross section for a wide range of WIMP masses and exclude new parameter space in inelastic dark matter models.Z. Ahmed, D.S. Akerib, S. Arrenberg, C.N. Bailey, D. Balakishiyeva, L. Baudis, D.A. Bauer, P.L. Brink, T. Bruch, R. Bunker, B. Cabrera, D.O. Caldwell, J. Cooley, P. Cushman, M. Daal, F. DeJongh, M.R. Dragowsky, L. Duong, S. Fallows, E. Figueroa-Feliciano, J. Filippini, M. Fritts, S.R. Golwala, D.R. Grant, J. Hall, R. Hennings-Yeomans, S.A. Hertel, D. Holmgren, L. Hsu, M.E. Huber, O. Kamaev, M. Kiveni, M. Kos, S.W. Leman, R. Mahapatra, V. Mandic, K.A. McCarthy, N. Mirabolfathi, D. Moore, H. Nelson, R.W. Ogburn, A. Phipps, M. Pyle, X. Qiu, E. Ramberg, W. Rau, A. Reisetter, 7 T. Saab, B. Sadoulet, 13 J. Sander, R.W. Schnee, D.N. Seitz, B. Serfass, K.M. Sundqvist, M. Tarka, P. Wikus, S. Yellin, 14 J. Yoo, B.A. Young, and J. Zhang (CDMS Collaboration) Division of Physics, Mathematics & Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510, USA Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Department of Physics, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada, K7L 3N6 Department of Physics, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN 55057 USA Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA Department of Physics, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA Departments of Phys. & Elec. Engr., University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA Physics Institute, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057, Switzerland Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Results from a Low-Energy Analysis of the CDMS II Germanium Data

We report results from a reanalysis of data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Data taken between October 2006 and September 2008 using eight germanium detectors are reanalyzed with a lowered, 2 keV recoil-energy threshold, to give increased sensitivity to interactions from weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with masses below ∼10  GeV/c(2). This analysis provides stronger constraints than previous CDMS II results for WIMP masses below 9  GeV/c(2) and excludes parameter space associated with possible low-mass WIMP signals from the DAMA/LIBRA and CoGeNT experiments.

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.

Analysis of the low-energy electron-recoil spectrum of the CDMS experiment

We report on the analysis of the low-energy electron-recoil spectrum from the CDMS II experiment using data with an exposure of 443.2 kg-days. The analysis provides details on the observed counting rate and possible background sources in the energy range of 2–8.5 keV. We find no significant excess of a peaked contribution to the total counting rate above the background model, and compare this observation to the recent DAMA results. In the framework of a conversion of a dark matter particle into electromagnetic energy, our 90% confidence level upper limit of 0.246  events/kg/day at 3.15 keV is lower than the total rate above background observed by DAMA. In absence of any specific particle physics model to provide the scaling in cross section between NaI and Ge, we assume a Z2 scaling. With this assumption the observed rate in DAMA remains higher than the upper limit in CDMS. Under the conservative assumption that the modulation amplitude is 6% of the total rate we obtain upper limits on the modulation amplitude a factor of ~2 lower than observed by DAMA, constraining some possible interpretations of this modulation.

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.

Search for inelastic dark matter with the CDMS II experiment

Results are presented from a reanalysis of the entire five-tower data set acquired with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, with an exposure of 969 kg-days. The analysis window was extended to a recoil energy of 150 keV, and an improved surface-event background-rejection cut was defined to increase the sensitivity of the experiment to the inelastic dark matter (iDM) model. Three dark matter candidates were found between 25 keV and 150 keV. The probability to observe three or more background events in this energy range is 11%. Because of the occurrence of these events, the constraints on the iDM parameter space are slightly less stringent than those from our previous analysis, which used an energy window of 10–100 keV.

Lifetime Measurements in Sn II

Lifetime measurements are reported for levels arising from the 5s25d and 5s24f configurations in Sn II. Measured decay curves were jointly analyzed using the Arbitrarily Normalized Decay Curve (ANDC) method to remove the effects of cascade repopulation from the determination of the lifetimes of the 5s25d 2D3/2 level. The branching ratio of the decay of this level to the ground term fine-structure levels 2P1/2 and 2P3/2 was carefully measured, and we have obtained an accurate value for the absorption oscillator strength of the resonance transition to this level at 1400.52 A. The results are discussed in the context of interpreting vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectra observed with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope.

Analytical model for event reconstruction in coplanar grid CdZnTe detectors

Coplanar-grid (CPG) particle detectors were designed for materials such as CdZnTe (CZT) in which charge carriers of only one sign have acceptable transport properties. The presence of two independent anode signals allows for a reconstruction of deposited energy based on the difference between the two signals, and a reconstruction of the interaction depth based on the ratio of the amplitudes of the sum and difference of the signals. Energy resolution is greatly improved by modifying the difference signal with an empirically determined weighting factor to correct for the effects of electron trapping. This paper introduces a modified interaction depth reconstruction formula which corrects for electron trapping utilizing the same weighting factor used for energy reconstruction. The improvement of this depth reconstruction over simpler formulas is demonstrated. Further corrections due to the contribution of hole transport to the signals are discussed.

Results of a search for neutrinoless double- β decay using the COBRA demonstrator

Neutrinoless double-