Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of BetaContamination

Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of BetaContamination PDF Author: Donald D. Driscoll
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Languages : en
Pages : 175

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The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) uses cryogenically-cooled detectors made of germanium and silicon in an attempt to detect dark matter in the form of Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The expected interaction rate of these particles is on the order of 1/kg/day, far below the 200/kg/day expected rate of background interactions after passive shielding and an active cosmic ray muon veto. Our detectors are instrumented to make a simultaneous measurement of both the ionization energy and thermal energy deposited by the interaction of a particle with the crystal substrate. A comparison of these two quantities allows for the rejection of a background of electromagnetically-interacting particles at a level of better than 99.9%. The dominant remaining background at a depth of {approx} 11 m below the surface comes from fast neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons interacting in the rock surrounding the experiment. Contamination of our detectors by a beta emitter can add an unknown source of unrejected background. In the energy range of interest for a WIMP study, electrons will have a short penetration depth and preferentially interact near the surface. Some of the ionization signal can be lost to the charge contacts there and a decreased ionization signal relative to the thermal signal will cause a background event which interacts at the surface to be misidentified as a signal event. We can use information about the shape of the thermal signal pulse to discriminate against these surface events. Using a subset of our calibration set which contains a large fraction of electron events, we can characterize the expected behavior of surface events and construct a cut to remove them from our candidate signal events. This thesis describes the development of the 6 detectors (4 x 250 g Ge and 2 x 100 g Si) used in the 2001-2002 CDMS data run at the Stanford Underground Facility with a total of 119 livedays of data. The preliminary results presented are based on the first use of a beta-eliminating cut based on a maximum-likelihood characterization described above.

Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of BetaContamination

Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of BetaContamination PDF Author: Donald D. Driscoll
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) uses cryogenically-cooled detectors made of germanium and silicon in an attempt to detect dark matter in the form of Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The expected interaction rate of these particles is on the order of 1/kg/day, far below the 200/kg/day expected rate of background interactions after passive shielding and an active cosmic ray muon veto. Our detectors are instrumented to make a simultaneous measurement of both the ionization energy and thermal energy deposited by the interaction of a particle with the crystal substrate. A comparison of these two quantities allows for the rejection of a background of electromagnetically-interacting particles at a level of better than 99.9%. The dominant remaining background at a depth of {approx} 11 m below the surface comes from fast neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons interacting in the rock surrounding the experiment. Contamination of our detectors by a beta emitter can add an unknown source of unrejected background. In the energy range of interest for a WIMP study, electrons will have a short penetration depth and preferentially interact near the surface. Some of the ionization signal can be lost to the charge contacts there and a decreased ionization signal relative to the thermal signal will cause a background event which interacts at the surface to be misidentified as a signal event. We can use information about the shape of the thermal signal pulse to discriminate against these surface events. Using a subset of our calibration set which contains a large fraction of electron events, we can characterize the expected behavior of surface events and construct a cut to remove them from our candidate signal events. This thesis describes the development of the 6 detectors (4 x 250 g Ge and 2 x 100 g Si) used in the 2001-2002 CDMS data run at the Stanford Underground Facility with a total of 119 livedays of data. The preliminary results presented are based on the first use of a beta-eliminating cut based on a maximum-likelihood characterization described above.

First Results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment at the Deep Site

First Results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment at the Deep Site PDF Author: Vuk Mandic
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 922

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Optimizing the Design and Analysis of Cryogenic Semiconductor Dark Matter Detectors for Maximum Sensitivity

Optimizing the Design and Analysis of Cryogenic Semiconductor Dark Matter Detectors for Maximum Sensitivity PDF Author: Matt Christopher Pyle
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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For the past 15 years, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search or CDMS has searched for Weekly Interacting Massive Particle dark matter (WIMPs) using Ge and Si semiconductor crystals instrumented with both ionization and athermal phonon sensors so that the much more common electron recoil leakage caused by photons and [beta]s from naturally present radioactive elements can be easily distinguished from elastic WIMP nucleon interactions by looking at the fraction of total recoil energy which ends up as potential energy of e/h pairs. Due to electronic carrier trapping at the surface of our semiconductor crystals, electron recoils which occur near the surface have suppressed ionization measurements and can not be distinguished from WIMP induced nuclear recoils and thus sensitivity to the WIMP nucleon interaction cross section was driven in CDMS II by our ability to define a full 3D fiducial volume in which all events had full collection. To remain background free and maximally sensitive to the WIMPnucleus interaction cross section, we must improve our 3D fiducial volume definition at the same rate as we scale the mass of the detector, and thus proposed next generation experiments with an order of magnitude increase in active mass were unfortunately not possible with our previous CDMS II detector design, and a new design with significantly improved fiducialization performance is required. In this thesis, we illustrate how the complex E-field geometry produced by interdigitated electrodes at alternating voltage biases naturally encodes 3D fiducial volume information into the charge and phonon signals and thus is a natural geometry for our next generation dark matter detectors. Secondly, we will study in depth the physics of import to our devices including transition edge sensor dynamics, quasi- particle dynamics in our Al collection fins, and phonon physics in the crystal itself so that we can both understand the performance of our previous CDMS II device as well as optimize the design of our future devices. Of interest to the broader physics community is the derivation of the ideal athermal phonon detector resolution and it's cubic temperature scaling behavior which suggests that the athermal phonon detector technology developed by CDMS could also be used to discover coherent neutrino scattering and search for non-standard neutrino interaction and sterile neutrinos. These proposed resolution optimized devices can also be used in searches for exotic MeV-GeV dark matter as well as novel background free searches for 8GeV light WIMPs. Initial performance studies of our first two next generation iZIP detectors at the University of California Berkeley CDMS test facility indicate that electron recoil surface event misidentification is 2x10-5 ±2.5x10-5 (90%CL) for a recoil energy range of 8keVr-60keVr strongly indicating that z fiducial volume performance will not limit our WIMP sensitivity in next generation experiments. Furthermore, phonon only fiducial volume selections were created for nuclear recoil energies 2keVr suggesting that phonon only background free or background subtracting light WIMP mass experiments are potentially viable.

Dissertation Abstracts International

Dissertation Abstracts International PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 804

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Task I

Task I PDF Author:
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Dark Matter Search - During the period of performance, our group continued the search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs. As a key member of the CDMS (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search) collaboration, we completed the CDMS II experiment which led the field in sensitivity for more than five years. We fabricated all detectors, and participated in detector testing and verification. In addition, we participated in the construction and operation of the facility at the Soudan Underground Laboratory and played key roles in the data acquisition and analysis. Towards the end of the performance period, we began operating the SuperCDMS Soudan experiment, which consists of 15 advanced Ge (9 kg) detectors. The advanced detector design called iZIP grew out of our earlier DOE Particle Detector R & D program which demonstrated the rejection of surface electrons to levels where they are no longer the dominant source of background. Our group invented this advanced design and these larger detectors were fabricated on the Stanford campus in collaboration with the SLAC CDMS group and the Santa Clara University group. The sensitivity reach is expected to be up to 5 times better than CDMS II after two years of operation. We will check the new limits on WIMPs set by XENON100, and we expect improved sensitivity for light mass WIMPs beyond that of any other existing experiment. Our group includes the Spokesperson for SuperCDMS and continues to make important contributions to improvements in the detector technology which are enabling the very low trigger thresholds used to explore the low mass WIMP region. We are making detailed measurements of the charge transport and trapping within Ge crystals, measuring the diffusive trapping distance of the quasiparticle excitations within the Al phonon collector fins on the detector surface, and we are contributing to the development of much improved detector Monte Carlos which are essential to guide the detector design and optimize the analysis. Neutrino Physics - In the period of performance the neutrino group successfully completed the construction of EXO-200 and commissioned the detector. Science data taking started on Jun 1, 2011. With the discovery of the 2-neutrino double-beta decay in 136-Xe and the first measurement of the 0-neutrino mode resulting in the most stringent limit of Majorana masses, our group continues to be a leading innovator in the field of neutrino physics which is central to DOE-HEP Intensity Frontier program. The phenomenon of neutrino oscillations, in part elucidated by our earlier efforts with the Palo Verde and KamLAND experiments, provides the crucial information that neutrino masses are non-zero and, yet, it contains no information on the value of the neutrino mass scale. In recent times our group has therefore shifted its focus to a high sensitivity 0-neutrino double beta decay program, EXO. The 0-neutrino double beta decay provides the best chance of extending the sensitivity to the neutrino mass scale below 10 meV but, maybe more importantly, it tests the nature of the neutrino wave function, providing the most sensitive probe for Majorana particles and lepton number violation. The EXO program, formulated by our group several years ago, plans to use up to tonnes of the isotope 136-Xe to study the 0-neutrino double beta decay mode. The EXO-200 detector is the first step in this program and it represents the only large US-led and based experiment taking data. The EXO-200 isotope enrichment program broke new grounds for the enterprise of double beta decay. The detector design and material selection program paid off, resulting in a background that is among the very best in the field. The "first light" of EXO-200 was very exciting with the discovery -in the first month of data- of the rarest 2-neutrino double beta decay mode ever observed. The lower limit on the 0-neutrino double beta decay half-life, published in Phys. Rev. Lett. and based on th ...

Optimizing the Design and Analysis of Cryogenic Semiconductor Dark Matter Detectors for Maximum Sensitivity

Optimizing the Design and Analysis of Cryogenic Semiconductor Dark Matter Detectors for Maximum Sensitivity PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
In this thesis, we illustrate how the complex E- field geometry produced by interdigitated electrodes at alternating voltage biases naturally encodes 3D fiducial volume information into the charge and phonon signals and thus is a natural geometry for our next generation dark matter detectors. Secondly, we will study in depth the physics of import to our devices including transition edge sensor dynamics, quasi- particle dynamics in our Al collection fins, and phonon physics in the crystal itself so that we can both understand the performance of our previous CDMS II device as well as optimize the design of our future devices. Of interest to the broader physics community is the derivation of the ideal athermal phonon detector resolution and it's T3 c scaling behavior which suggests that the athermal phonon detector technology developed by CDMS could also be used to discover coherent neutrino scattering and search for non-standard neutrino interaction and sterile neutrinos. These proposed resolution optimized devices can also be used in searches for exotic MeV-GeV dark matter as well as novel background free searches for 8GeV light WIMPs.

A Search for Low-mass Dark Matter with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and the Development of Highly Multiplexed Phonon-mediated Particle Detectors

A Search for Low-mass Dark Matter with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and the Development of Highly Multiplexed Phonon-mediated Particle Detectors PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment PDF Author: Kevin Ahmad McCarthy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Astrophysical and cosmological measurements on the scales of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the universe indicate that ~85% of the matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, made up of non-baryonic particles that interact with cross-sections on the weak scale or lower. Hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, represent a potential solution to the dark matter problem, and naturally arise in certain Standard Model extensions. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) collaboration aims to detect the scattering of WIMP particles from nuclei in terrestrial detectors. Germanium and silicon particle detectors are deployed in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. These detectors are instrumented with phonon and ionization sensors, which allows for discrimination against electromagnetic backgrounds, which strike the detector at rates orders of magnitude higher than the expected WIMP signal. This dissertation presents the development of numerical models of the physics of the CDMS detectors, implemented in a computational package collectively known as the CDMS Detector Monte Carlo (DMC). After substantial validation of the models against data, the DMC is used to investigate potential backgrounds to the next iteration of the CDMS experiment, known as SuperCDMS. Finally, an investigation of using the DMC in a reverse Monte Carlo analysis of WIMP search data is presented. 140.23 kg-days of WIMP search data from the silicon detectors in the CDMSII experiment is also analyzed. The resulting upper limits on the WIMP-nucleon crosssection are higher than those published by other experiments at all WIMP masses, and the lowest limit on the WIMP-nucleon cross-section is 1.07*10-42 cm2 at a mass of 60 GeV/c2. These results do provide new and interesting constraints at WIMP masses

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) is searching for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with cryogenic particle detectors. These detectors have the ability to discriminate between nuclear recoil candidate and electron recoil background events by collecting both phonon and ionization energy from recoils in the detector crystals. The CDMS-II experiment has completed analysis of the first data runs with 30 semiconductor detectors at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, resulting in a world leading WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section limit for WIMP masses above 44 GeV/c2. As CDMS aims to achieve greater WIMP sensitivity, it is necessary to increase the detector mass and discrimination between signal and background events. Incomplete ionization collection results in the largest background in the CDMS detectors as this causes electron recoil background interactions to appear as false candidate events. Two primary causes of incomplete ionization collection are surface and bulk trapping. Recent work has been focused on reducing surface trapping through the modification of fabrication methods for future detectors. Analyzing data taken with test devices has shown that hydrogen passivation of the amorphous silicon blocking layer worsens surface trapping. Additional data has shown that the iron-ion implantation used to lower the critical temperature of the tungsten transition-edge sensors causes a degradation of the ionization collection. Using selective implantation on future detectors may improve ionization collection for events near the phonon side detector surface. Bulk trapping is minimized by neutralizing ionized lattice impurities. Detector investigations at testing facilities and in situ at the experimental site have provided methods to optimize the neutralization process and monitor running conditions to maintain full ionization collection. This work details my contribution to the 5-tower data taking, monitoring, and analysis effort as well as the SuperCDMS detector development with the focus on monitoring and improving ionization collection in the detectors.

Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment

Detector Simulation and WIMP Search Analysis for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Astrophysical and cosmological measurements on the scales of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the universe indicate that 85% of the matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, made up of non-baryonic particles that interact with cross-sections on the weak scale or lower. Hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, represent a potential solution to the dark matter problem, and naturally arise in certain Standard Model extensions. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) collaboration aims to detect the scattering of WIMP particles from nuclei in terrestrial detectors. Germanium and silicon particle detectors are deployed in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. These detectors are instrumented with phonon and ionization sensors, which allows for discrimination against electromagnetic backgrounds, which strike the detector at rates orders of magnitude higher than the expected WIMP signal. This dissertation presents the development of numerical models of the physics of the CDMS detectors, implemented in a computational package collectively known as the CDMS Detector Monte Carlo (DMC). After substantial validation of the models against data, the DMC is used to investigate potential backgrounds to the next iteration of the CDMS experiment, known as SuperCDMS. Finally, an investigation of using the DMC in a reverse Monte Carlo analysis of WIMP search data is presented.