A search for low-mass WIMPs with EDELWEISS-II heat-and-ionization detectors

We report on a search for low-energy (E < 20 keV) WIMP-induced nuclear recoils using data collected in 2009 - 2010 by EDELWEISS from four germanium detectors equipped with thermal sensors and an electrode design (ID) which allows to efficiently reject several sources of background. The data indicate no evidence for an exponential distribution of low-energy nuclear recoils that could be attributed to WIMP elastic scattering after an exposure of 113 kg.d. For WIMPs of mass 10 GeV, the observation of one event in the WIMP search region results in a 90% CL limit of 1.0x10^-5 pb on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-section, which constrains the parameter space associated with the findings reported by the CoGeNT, DAMA and CRESST experiments.Comment: PRD rapid communication accepte

Tagging and localization of ionizing events using NbSi transition edge phonon sensors for dark matter searches

In the context of direct searches of sub-GeV dark matter particles with germanium detectors, the EDELWEISS collaboration has tested a new technique to tag ionizing events using NbSi transition edge athermal phonon sensors. The emission of the athermal phonons generated by the Neganov-Trofimov-Luke effect associated with the drift of electrons and holes through the detectors is used to tag ionization events generated in specific parts of the detector localized in front of the NbSi sensor and to reject by more than a factor 5 [at 90% confidence level (CL)] the background from heat-only events that dominates the spectrum above 3 keV. This method is able to improve by a factor of 2.8 the previous limit on spinindependent interactions of 1 GeV=c2 weakly interacting massive particles obtained with the same detector and dataset but without this tagging technique.The help of the technical staff of the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane and the participant laboratories is gratefully acknowledged. The EDELWEISS project is supported in part by the French Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR-21-CE31-0004), by the P2IO LabEx (ANR-10-LABX-0038) in the framework “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-0003-01), and the LabEx Lyon Institute of Origins (ANR-10-LABX-0066) within the framework of the program France 2030, also operated by the National Research Agency of France. B. J. Kavanagh thanks the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, MICIU) for the support to the Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Ref. MDM-2017-0765. B. J. K. also acknowledges funding from the Ramón y Cajal Grant RYC2021-034757-I, financed by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR

Final results of the EDELWEISS-II WIMP search using a 4-kg array of cryogenic germanium detectors with interleaved electrodes

The EDELWEISS-II collaboration has completed a direct search for WIMP dark matter with an array of ten 400-g cryogenic germanium detectors in operation at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. The combined use of thermal phonon sensors and charge collection electrodes with an interleaved geometry enables the efficient rejection of gamma-induced radioactivity as well as near-surface interactions. A total effective exposure of 384 kg.d has been achieved, mostly coming from fourteen months of continuous operation. Five nuclear recoil candidates are observed above 20 keV, while the estimated background is 3.0 events. The result is interpreted in terms of limits on the cross-section of spin-independent interactions of WIMPs and nucleons. A cross-section of 4.4x10^-8 pb is excluded at 90%CL for a WIMP mass of 85 GeV. New constraints are also set on models where the WIMP-nucleon scattering is inelastic.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures; matches published versio

Background studies for the EDELWEISS dark matter experiment

The EDELWEISS-II collaboration has completed a direct search for WIMP dark matter using cryogenic Ge detectors (400 g each) and 384 kg$\times$days of effective exposure. A cross-section of $4.4 \times 10^{-8}$ pb is excluded at 90% C.L. for a WIMP mass of 85 GeV. The next phase, EDELWEISS-III, aims to probe spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections down to a few $\times10^{-9}$ pb. We present here the study of gamma and neutron background coming from radioactive decays in the set-up and shielding materials. We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations for the completed EDELWEISS-II setup with GEANT4 and normalised the expected background rates to the measured radioactivity levels (or their upper limits) of all materials and components. The expected gamma-ray event rate in EDELWEISS-II at 20-200 keV agrees with the observed rate of 82 events/kg/day within the uncertainties in the measured concentrations. The calculated neutron rate from radioactivity of 1.0-3.1 events (90% C.L.) at 20-200 keV in the EDELWEISS-II data together with the expected upper limit on the misidentified gamma-ray events ($\le0.9$), surface betas ($\le0.3$), and muon-induced neutrons ($\le0.7$), do not contradict 5 observed events in nuclear recoil band. We have then extended the simulation framework to the EDELWEISS-III configuration with 800 g crystals, better material purity and additional neutron shielding inside the cryostat. The gamma-ray and neutron backgrounds in 24 kg fiducial mass of EDELWEISS-III have been calculated as 14-44 events/kg/day and 0.7-1.4 events per year, respectively. The results of the background studies performed in the present work have helped to select better purity components and improve shielding in EDELWEISS-III to further reduce the expected rate of background events in the next phase of the experiment.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Astroparticle Physic

Search for sub-GeV dark matter via the Migdal effect with an EDELWEISS germanium detector with NbSi transition-edge sensors

The EDELWEISS collaboration reports on the search for dark matter particle interactions via Migdal effect with masses between 32 MeV · c−2 to 2 GeV · c−2 using a 200 g cryogenic Ge detector sensitive to simultaneously heat and ionization signals and operated underground at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane in France. The phonon signal was read out using a transition edge sensor made of a NbSi thin film. The detector was biased at 66 V in order to benefit from the Neganov-Trofimov-Luke amplification and resulting in a resolution on the energy of electron recoils of 4.46 eVee (102.58 eV at 66 V) and an analysis threshold of 30 eVee. The sensitivity is limited by a dominant background not associated to charge creation in the detector. The search constrains a new region of parameter space for cross sections down to 10−29 cm2 and masses between 32 and 100 MeV · c−2. The achieved low threshold with the NbSi sensor shows the relevance of its use for out-of-equilibrium phonon sensitive devices for low-mass dark matter searches.The EDELWEISS project is supported in part by the French Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR) and the LabEx Lyon Institute of Origins (ANR-10-LABX 0066) of the Universit´e de Lyon within the program “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-00007), by the P2IO LabEx (ANR-10-LABX-0038) in the framework “Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-11-IDEX-0003-01) managed by the ANR (France), and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 18-02- 00159). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 838537. B. J. K. thanks the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI, MICIU) for the support to the Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Ref. MDM-2017-0765. We thank J. P. Lopez (IP2I) and the Physics Department of Universit´e Lyon 1 for their contribution to the radioactive sources

Axion searches with the EDELWEISS-II experiment

We present new constraints on the couplings of axions and more generic axion-like particles using data from the EDELWEISS-II experiment. The EDELWEISS experiment, located at the Underground Laboratory of Modane, primarily aims at the direct detection of WIMPs using germanium bolometers. It is also sensitive to the low-energy electron recoils that would be induced by solar or dark matter axions. Using a total exposure of up to 448 kg.d, we searched for axion-induced electron recoils down to 2.5 keV within four scenarios involving different hypotheses on the origin and couplings of axions. We set a 95% CL limit on the coupling to photons $g_{A\gamma}<2.13\times 10^{-9}$ GeV$^{-1}$ in a mass range not fully covered by axion helioscopes. We also constrain the coupling to electrons, $g_{Ae} < 2.56\times 10^{-11}$, similar to the more indirect solar neutrino bound. Finally we place a limit on $g_{Ae}\times g_{AN}^{\rm eff}<4.70 \times 10^{-17}$, where $g_{AN}^{\rm eff}$ is the effective axion-nucleon coupling for $^{57}$Fe. Combining these results we fully exclude the mass range $0.91\,{\rm eV}<m_A<80$ keV for DFSZ axions and $5.73\,{\rm eV}<m_A<40$ keV for KSVZ axions

Muon-induced background in the EDELWEISS dark matter search

A dedicated analysis of the muon-induced background in the EDELWEISS dark matter search has been performed on a data set acquired in 2009 and 2010. The total muon flux underground in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) was measured to be $\Phi_{\mu}=(5.4\pm 0.2 ^{+0.5}_{-0.9})$\,muons/m$^2$/d. The modular design of the muon-veto system allows the reconstruction of the muon trajectory and hence the determination of the angular dependent muon flux in LSM. The results are in good agreement with both MC simulations and earlier measurements. Synchronization of the muon-veto system with the phonon and ionization signals of the Ge detector array allowed identification of muon-induced events. Rates for all muon-induced events $\Gamma^{\mu}=(0.172 \pm 0.012)\, \rm{evts}/(\rm{kg \cdot d})$ and of WIMP-like events $\Gamma^{\mu-n} = 0.008^{+0.005}_{-0.004}\, \rm{evts}/(\rm{kg \cdot d})$ were extracted. After vetoing, the remaining rate of accepted muon-induced neutrons in the EDELWEISS-II dark matter search was determined to be $\Gamma^{\mu-n}_{\rm irred} < 6\cdot 10^{-4} \, \rm{evts}/(\rm{kg \cdot d})$ at 90%\,C.L. Based on these results, the muon-induced background expectation for an anticipated exposure of 3000\,\kgd\ for EDELWEISS-3 is $N^{\mu-n}_{3000 kg\cdot d} < 0.6$ events.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in Astropart. Phy

Optimizing EDELWEISS detectors for low-mass WIMP searches

The physics potential of EDELWEISS detectors for the search of low-mass weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is studied. Using a data-driven background model, projected exclusion limits are computed using frequentist and multivariate analysis approaches, namely, profile likelihood and boosted decision tree. Both current and achievable experimental performances are considered. The optimal strategy for detector optimization depends critically on whether the emphasis is put on WIMP masses below or above ∼5  GeV/c2. The projected sensitivity for the next phase of the EDELWEISS-III experiment at the Modane Underground Laboratory (LSM) for low-mass WIMP search is presented. By 2018 an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of σSI=7×10−42  cm2 is expected for a WIMP mass in the range 2–5  GeV/c2. The requirements for a future hundred-kilogram-scale experiment designed to reach the bounds imposed by the coherent scattering of solar neutrinos are also described. By improving the ionization resolution down to 50  eVee, we show that such an experiment installed in an even lower background environment (e.g., at SNOLAB) together with an exposure of 1000   kg⋅yr, should allow us to observe about 80 8B neutrino events after discrimination