18 research outputs found

    Dark-Photon Search using Data from CRESST-II Phase 2

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    Identifying the nature and origin of dark matter is one of the major challenges for modern astro and particle physics. Direct dark-matter searches aim at an observation of dark-matter particles interacting within detectors. The focus of several such searches is on interactions with nuclei as provided e.g. by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. However, there is a variety of dark-matter candidates favoring interactions with electrons rather than with nuclei. One example are dark photons, i.e., long-lived vector particles with a kinetic mixing to standard-model photons. In this work we present constraints on this kinetic mixing based on data from CRESST-II Phase 2 corresponding to an exposure before cuts of 52\,kg-days. These constraints improve the existing ones for dark-photon masses between 0.3 and 0.7\,keV/c2^2.Comment: submitted EPJ

    Results on MeV-scale dark matter from a gram-scale cryogenic calorimeter operated above ground

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    Models for light dark matter particles with masses below 1 GeV/c2^2 are a natural and well-motivated alternative to so-far unobserved weakly interacting massive particles. Gram-scale cryogenic calorimeters provide the required detector performance to detect these particles and extend the direct dark matter search program of CRESST. A prototype 0.5 g sapphire detector developed for the ν\nu-cleus experiment has achieved an energy threshold of Eth=(19.7±0.9)E_{th}=(19.7\pm 0.9) eV, which is one order of magnitude lower than previous results and independent of the type of particle interaction. The result presented here is obtained in a setup above ground without significant shielding against ambient and cosmogenic radiation. Although operated in a high-background environment, the detector probes a new range of light-mass dark matter particles previously not accessible by direct searches. We report the first limit on the spin-independent dark matter particle-nucleon cross section for masses between 140 MeV/c2^2 and 500 MeV/c2^2.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, v3: ancillary files added, v4: high energy spectrum (0.6-12keV) added to ancillary file

    Search for dark photons using data from CRESST-II Phase 2

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    Understanding the nature and origin of dark matter is one of the most important challenges for modern particle physics. During the previous decade the sensitivities of direct dark matter searches have improved by several orders of magnitude. These experiments focus their work mainly on the search for dark-matter particles interacting with nuclei (e.g. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, WIMPs). However, there exists a large variety of different candidates for dark-matter particles. One of these candidates, the so-called dark photon, is a long-lived vector boson with a kinetic mixing to the standard-model photon. In this work we present the preliminary results of our search for dark photons. Using data from the direct dark matter search CRESST-II Phase 2 we can improve the existing constraints for the kinetic mixing for dark-photon masses between 0.3 and 0.5 keV/c2. In addition, we also present projected sensitivities for the next phases of the CRESST-III experiment showing great potential to improve the sensitivity for dark-photon masses below 1 keV

    Direct dark matter search with the CRESST-III experiment - status and perspectives

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    The CRESST-III experiment, located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS, Italy), aims at the direct detection of dark matter (DM) particles. Scintillating CaWO4 crystals operated as cryogenic detectors are used as target material for DM-nucleus scattering. The simultaneous measurement of the phonon signal from the CaWO4 crystal and of the emitted scintillation light in a separate cryogenic light detector is used to discriminate backgrounds from a possible dark matter signal. The experiment aims to significantly improve the sensitivity for low-mass ( 5-10 GeV/c2) DM particles by using optimized detector modules with a nuclear recoil-energy threshold 100 eV. The current status of the experiment as well as projections of the sensitivity for spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering will be presented

    Observation of the Identical Rigidity Dependence of He, C, and O Cosmic Rays at High Rigidities by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station

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    Observation of New Properties of Secondary Cosmic Rays Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station

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    We report on the observation of new properties of secondary cosmic rays Li, Be, and B measured in the rigidity (momentum per unit charge) range 1.9 GV to 3.3 TV with a total of 5.4 × 106 nuclei collected by AMS during the first five years of operation aboard the International Space Station. The Li and B fluxes have an identical rigidity dependence above 7 GVand all three fluxes have an identical rigidity dependence above 30 GV with the Li=Be flux ratio of 2.0 ±\pm 0.1. The three fluxes deviate from a single power law above 200 GV in an identical way. This behavior of secondary cosmic rays has also been observed in the AMS measurement of primary cosmic rays He, C, and O but the rigidity dependences of primary cosmic rays and of secondary cosmic rays are distinctly different. In particular, above 200 GV, the secondary cosmic rays harden more than the primary cosmic rays

    Dark-photon search using data from CRESST-II Phase 2

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    Identifying the nature and origin of dark matter is one of the major challenges for modern astro and particle physics. Direct dark-matter searches aim at an observation of dark-matter particles interacting within detectors. The focus of several such searches is on interactions with nuclei as provided e.g. byWeakly Interacting Massive Particles. However, there is a variety of dark-matter candidates favoring interactions with electrons rather than with nuclei. One example are dark photons, i.e., long-lived vector particles with a kinetic mixing to standard-model photons. In this work we present constraints on this kinetic mixing based on data from CRESST-II Phase 2 corresponding to an exposure before cuts of 52 kg-days. These constraints improve the existing ones for dark-photon masses between 0.3 and 0.7 keV/c2

    New limits on double electron capture of 40 Ca and 180 W

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    We analyzed low-background data from the CRESST-II experiment with a total net exposure of 730 kg days to extract limits on double electron capture processes. We established new limits for 40Ca with T1/22v2K > 9.9 × 1021 y and T1/20v2EC > 1.4 × 1022 y and for 180W T1/22v/2K > 3.1 × 1019 with y and T1/20v2ED > 9.4 × 1018 y at 90% CL. Depending on the process, these values improve the currently best limits by a factor of ∼1.4-30

    First results from the CRESST-III low-mass dark matter program

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    The CRESST experiment is a direct dark matter search which aims to measure interactions of potential dark matter particles in an Earth-bound detector. With the current stage, CRESST-III, we focus on a low energy threshold for increased sensitivity towards light dark matter particles. In this paper we describe the analysis of one detector operated in the first run of CRESST-III (05/2016–02/2018) achieving a nuclear recoil threshold of 30.1 eV. This result was obtained with a 23.6 g CaWO 4 crystal operated as a cryogenic scintillating calorimeter in the CRESST setup at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). Both the primary phonon (heat) signal and the simultaneously emitted scintillation light, which is absorbed in a separate silicon-on-sapphire light absorber, are measured with highly sensitive transition edge sensors operated at ∼ 15     mK . The unique combination of these sensors with the light element oxygen present in our target yields sensitivity to dark matter particle masses as low as 160     MeV / c 2
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