2 research outputs found
Exclusion Limits on the WIMP-Nucleon Cross-Section from the First Run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Lab
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 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 ~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 4x10^-43 cm^2 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 2x10^-37 cm^2 at a WIMP mass of 50 GeV/c^2.Comment: 37 pages, 42 figure