Low-Cost Electronic Microwave Calibration for Rapid On-Line Moisture Sensing of Seedcotton

In order to improve rapid on-line moisture sensing of seedcotton in cotton gins, a means by which to establish a reliable low-cost wide-band electronic calibration is critically needed. This calibration is needed to center the circuit due to changes in the internal signal delays and attenuation drift caused by temperature changes in the various system components and circuit elements. This research examines a hardware technique for use in conjunction with microwave reflective sensing probes having an extended bandwidth from 500 MHz through 2.5 GHz. This new technique was validated experimentally against known electrical propagation delay standards. Results of the measured propagation delay with this type of automatic electronic calibration method was found to agree with results using a vector network analyzer with a traditional S11 single port error correction calibration methodology to within 4% of the measurement, 95% confidence, with a standard error of +/− 18.6 ps for the delay measurements. At this level of performance, the proposed low-cost technique exhibits superior performance, over the typical geosciences time-domain reflectometer “TDR”, instruments in common use in soil moisture testing and is suitable for use in cotton gin moisture sensing

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

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

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

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

Measurement of the cosmogenic activation of germanium detectors in EDELWEISS-III

International audienceWe present a measurement of the cosmogenic activation in the germanium cryogenic detectors of the EDELWEISS III direct dark matter search experiment. The decay rates measured in detectors with different exposures to cosmic rays above ground are converted into production rates of different isotopes. The measured production rates in units of nuclei/kg/day are 82 $\pm$ 21 for $^3$H, 2.8 $\pm$ 0.6 for $^{49}$V, 4.6 $\pm$ 0.7 for $^{55}$Fe, and 106 $\pm$ 13 for $^{65}$Zn. These results are the most accurate for these isotopes. A lower limit on the production rate of $^{68}$Ge of 74 nuclei/kg/day is also presented. They are compared to model predictions present in literature and to estimates calculated with the ACTIVIA code

Improved EDELWEISS-III sensitivity for low-mass WIMPs using a profile likelihood approach

We report on a dark matter search for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) in the mass range mχ∈[4,30]GeV/c2 with the EDELWEISS-III experiment. A 2D profile likelihood analysis is performed on data from eight selected detectors with the lowest energy thresholds leading to a combined fiducial exposure of 496 kg-days. External backgrounds from γ- and β-radiation, recoils from 206Pb and neutrons as well as detector intrinsic backgrounds were modelled from data outside the region of interest and constrained in the analysis. The basic data selection and most of the background models are the same as those used in a previously published analysis based on boosted decision trees (BDT) [1]. For the likelihood approach applied in the analysis presented here, a larger signal efficiency and a subtraction of the expected background lead to a higher sensitivity, especially for the lowest WIMP masses probed. No statistically significant signal was found and upper limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section can be set with a hypothesis test based on the profile likelihood test statistics. The 90 % C.L. exclusion limit set for WIMPs with mχ=4GeV/c2 is 1.6×10-39cm2, which is an improvement of a factor of seven with respect to the BDT-based analysis. For WIMP masses above 15GeV/c2 the exclusion limits found with both analyses are in good agreement