The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) Experiment - First Results from the Soudan Mine

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) Experiment - First Results from the Soudan Mine PDF Author: Clarence Leeder Chang
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Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) Experiment - First Results from the Soudan Mine

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) Experiment - First Results from the Soudan Mine PDF Author: Clarence Leeder Chang
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Languages : en
Pages : 0

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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:
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Languages : en
Pages : 454

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The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is designed to search for dark matter in the form of the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). For this purpose, CDMS uses detectors based on crystals of Ge and Si, operated at the temperature of 20 mK, and providing a two-fold signature of an interaction: the ionization and the athermal phonon signals. The two signals, along with the passive and active shielding of the experimental setup, and with the underground experimental sites, allow very effective suppression and rejection of different types of backgrounds. This dissertation presents the commissioning and the results of the first WIMP-search run performed by the CDMS collaboration at the deep underground site at the Soudan mine in Minnesota. We develop different methods of suppressing the dominant background due to the electron-recoil events taking place at the detector surface and we apply these algorithms to the data set. These results place the world's most sensitive limits on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent elastic-scattering cross-section. Finally, they examine the compatibility of the supersymmetric WIMP-models with the direct-detection experiments (such as CDMS) and discuss the implications of the new CDMS result on these models.

Exclusion Limits on the WIMP-nucleon Cross Section from the First Run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Laboratory

Exclusion Limits on the WIMP-nucleon Cross Section from the First Run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Laboratory PDF Author:
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Languages : en
Pages : 37

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The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) employs low-temperature Ge and Si detectors to seek Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) via their elastic scattering interactions with nuclei. Simultaneous measurements of both ionization and phonon energy provide discrimination against interactions of background particles. For recoil energies above 10 keV, events due to background photons are rejected with> 99.99% efficiency. Electromagnetic events very near the detector surface can mimic nuclear recoils because of reduced charge collection, but these surface events are rejected with> 96% efficiency by using additional information from the phonon pulse shape. Efficient use of active and passive shielding, combined with the 2090 m.w.e. overburden at the experimental site in the Soudan mine, makes the background from neutrons negligible for this first exposure. All cuts are determined in a blind manner from in situ calibrations with external radioactive sources without any prior knowledge of the event distribution in the signal region. Resulting efficiencies are known to (almost equal to)10%. A single event with a recoil of 64 keV passes all of the cuts and is consistent with the expected misidentification rate of surface-electron recoils. Under the assumptions for a standard dark matter halo, these data exclude previously unexplored parameter space for both spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering. The resulting limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross-section has a minimum of 4 x 10−43 cm2 at a WIMP mass of 60 GeV c−2. The minimum of the limit for the spin-dependent WIMP-neutron elastic-scattering cross-section is 2 x 10−37 cm2 at a WIMP mass of 50 GeV c−2.

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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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 922

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Results from the Final Exposure of the CDMS II Experiment

Results from the Final Exposure of the CDMS II Experiment PDF Author:
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Languages : en
Pages : 6

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We report results from a blind analysis of the final data taken with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment (CDMS II) at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, Minnesota, USA. A total raw exposure of 612 kg-days was analyzed for this work. We observed two events in the signal region; based on our background estimate, the probability of observing two or more background events is 23%. These data set an upper limit on the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP)-nucleon elastic-scattering spin-independent cross-section of 7.0 x 10−44 cm2 for a WIMP of mass 70 GeV/c2 at the 90% confidence level. Combining this result with all previous CDMS II data gives an upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section of 3.8 x 10−44 cm2 for a WIMP of mass 70 GeV/c2. We also exclude new parameter space in recently proposed inelastic dark matter models.

Low-Mass Dark Matter Search Results and Radiogenic Backgrounds for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

Low-Mass Dark Matter Search Results and Radiogenic Backgrounds for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search PDF Author:
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Languages : en
Pages : 437

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An ever-increasing amount of evidence suggests that approximately one quarter of the energy in the universe is composed of some non-luminous, and hitherto unknown, "dark matter". Physicists from numerous sub-fields have been working on and trying to solve the dark matter problem for decades. The common solution is the existence of some new type of elementary particle with particular focus on weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). One avenue of dark matter research is to create an extremely sensitive particle detector with the goal of directly observing the interaction of WIMPs with standard matter. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) project operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory from 2003-2015, under the CDMS II and SuperCDMS Soudan experiments, with this goal of directly detecting dark matter. The next installation, SuperCDMS SNOLAB, is planned for near-future operation. The reason the dark-matter particle has not yet been observed in traditional particle physics experiments is that it must have very small cross sections, thus making such interactions extremely rare. In order to identify these rare events in the presence of a background of known particles and interactions, direct detection experiments employ various types and amounts of shielding to prevent known backgrounds from reaching the instrumented detector(s). CDMS utilized various gamma and neutron shielding to such an effect that the shielding, and other experimental components, themselves were sources of background. These radiogenic backgrounds must be understood to have confidence in any WIMP-search result. For this dissertation, radiogenic background studies and estimates were performed for various analyses covering CDMS II, SuperCDMS Soudan, and SuperCDMS SNOLAB. Lower-mass dark matter t c2 inent in the past few years. The CDMS detectors can be operated in an alternative, higher-biased, mode v to decrease their energy thresholds and correspondingly increase their sensitivity to low-mass WIMPs. This is the CDMS low ionization threshold experiment (CDMSlite), which has pushed the frontier at lower WIMP masses. This dissertation describes the second run of CDMSlite at Soudan: its hardware, operations, analysis, and results. The results include new WIMP mass-cross section upper limits on the spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon interactions. Thanks to the lower background and threshold in this run compared to the first CDMSlite run, these limits are the most sensitive in the world below WIMP masses of ~4 GeV/c2. This demonstrates also the great promise and utility of the high-voltage operating mode in the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

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

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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.

Results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search at Soudan Underground Laboratory

Results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search at Soudan Underground Laboratory PDF Author: Jonghee Yoo
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 6

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We present results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search at Soudan Underground Laboratory for two-tower arrays of detector. Twelve detectors were operated from March 25 to August 8, 2004, or 74.5 detector live days. Within expected background, no statistically significant indication of a WIMP signal was observed. Based on this null observation and combined with our previous results, we exclude a spin-averaged WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section above 1.6 x 10{sup -43} cm{sup 2} for Ge detectors, and 3 x 10{sup -42} cm{sup 2} for Si detectors, for a WIMP mass 60GeV/c{sup 2} with 90%C.L. This result constrains parameter space of minimal supersymmetric standard models (MSSM) and starts to reach the parameter space of a constrained model (CMSSM).

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search: First 5-Tower Data and Improved Understanding of Ionization Collection

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search: First 5-Tower Data and Improved Understanding of Ionization Collection PDF Author: Catherine N. Bailey
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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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 Ơ̐1rst 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/c^2. 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 modiƠ̐1cation 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 eƠ̐0ort as well as the SuperCDMS detector development with the focus on monitoring and improving ionization collection in the detectors.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and Background Rejection with Event Position Information

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and Background Rejection with Event Position Information PDF Author:
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Evidence from observational cosmology and astrophysics indicates that about one third of the universe is matter, but that the known baryonic matter only contributes to the universe at 4%. A large fraction of the universe is cold and non-baryonic matter, which has important role in the universe structure formation and its evolution. The leading candidate for the non-baryonic dark matter is Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which naturally occurs in the supersymmetry theory in particle physics. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is searching for evidence of a WIMP interaction off an atomic nucleus in crystals of Ge and Si by measuring simultaneously the phonon energy and ionization energy of the interaction in the CDMS detectors. The WIMP interaction energy is from a few keV to tens of keV with a rate less than 0.1 events/kg/day. To reach the goal of WIMP detection, the CDMS experiment has been conducted in the Soudan mine with an active muon veto and multistage passive background shields. The CDMS detectors have a low energy threshold and background rejection capabilities based on ionization yield. However, betas from contamination and other radioactive sources produce surface interactions, which have low ionization yield, comparable to that of bulk nuclear interactions. The low-ionization surface electron recoils must be removed in the WIMP search data analysis. An emphasis of this thesis is on developing the method of the surface-interaction rejection using location information of the interactions, phonon energy distributions and phonon timing parameters. The result of the CDMS Soudan run118 92.3 live day WIMP search data analysis is presented, and represents the most sensitive search yet performed.