Search for low-mass weakly interacting massive particles using voltage-assisted calorimetric ionization detection in the SuperCDMS experiment

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

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.041302

Search for low-mass weakly interacting massive particles using voltage-assisted calorimetric ionization detection in the SuperCDMS experiment

Phys Rev Lett. 2014 Jan 31;112(4):041302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.041302. Epub 2014 Jan 27.

Authors

R Agnese¹, A J Anderson², M Asai³, D Balakishiyeva¹, R Basu Thakur⁴, D A Bauer⁵, J Billard², A Borgland³, M A Bowles⁶, D Brandt³, P L Brink³, R Bunker⁶, B Cabrera⁷, D O Caldwell⁸, D G Cerdeno⁹, H Chagani¹⁰, J Cooley¹¹, B Cornell¹², C H Crewdson¹³, P Cushman¹⁰, M Daal¹⁴, P C F Di Stefano¹³, T Doughty¹⁴, L Esteban⁹, S Fallows¹⁰, E Figueroa-Feliciano², G L Godfrey³, S R Golwala¹², J Hall¹⁵, H R Harris¹⁶, S A Hertel², T Hofer¹⁰, D Holmgren⁵, L Hsu⁵, M E Huber¹⁷, A Jastram¹⁶, O Kamaev¹³, B Kara¹¹, M H Kelsey³, A Kennedy¹⁰, M Kiveni⁶, K Koch¹⁰, B Loer⁵, E Lopez Asamar⁹, R Mahapatra¹⁶, V Mandic¹⁰, C Martinez¹³, K A McCarthy², N Mirabolfathi¹⁴, R A Moffatt⁷, D C Moore¹², P Nadeau¹³, R H Nelson¹², K Page¹³, R Partridge³, M Pepin¹⁰, A Phipps¹⁴, K Prasad¹⁶, M Pyle¹⁴, H Qiu¹¹, W Rau¹³, P Redl⁷, A Reisetter¹⁸, Y Ricci¹³, T Saab¹, B Sadoulet¹⁹, J Sander²⁰, K Schneck³, R W Schnee⁶, S Scorza¹¹, B Serfass¹⁴, B Shank⁷, D Speller¹⁴, A N Villano¹⁰, B Welliver¹, D H Wright³, S Yellin⁷, J J Yen⁷, B A Young²¹, J Zhang¹⁰; (SuperCDMS collaboration)

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
² Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁴ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA and Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
⁵ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
⁹ Departamento de Física Teórica and Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
¹⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
¹¹ Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
¹² Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
¹³ Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana 47722, USA.
¹⁹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁰ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
²¹ Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California 95053, USA.

PMID: 24580434
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.041302

Abstract

SuperCDMS is an experiment designed to directly detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a favored candidate for dark matter ubiquitous in the Universe. In this Letter, we present WIMP-search results using a calorimetric technique we call CDMSlite, which relies on voltage-assisted Luke-Neganov amplification of the ionization energy deposited by particle interactions. The data were collected with a single 0.6 kg germanium detector running for ten live days at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. A low energy threshold of 170 eVee (electron equivalent) was obtained, which allows us to constrain new WIMP-nucleon spin-independent parameter space for WIMP masses below 6 GeV/c2.