Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of Beta Contamination

Abstract

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) uses cryogenically-cooled detectors made of germanium and silicon in an attempt to detect dark matter in the form of Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The expected interaction rate of these particles is on the order of 1/kg/day, far below the 200/kg/day expected rate of background interactions after passive shielding and an active cosmic ray muon veto. Our detectors are instrumented to make a simultaneous measurement of both the ionization energy and thermal energy deposited by the interaction of a particle with the crystal substrate. A comparison of these two quantities allows for the rejection of a background of electromagnetically-interacting particles at a level of better than 99.9%. The dominant remaining background at a depth of {approx} 11 m below the surface comes from fast neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons interacting in the rock surrounding the experiment. Contamination of our detectors by a beta emitter can add an unknown source of unrejected background. In the energy range of interest for a WIMP study, electrons will have a short penetration depth and preferentially interact near the surface. Some of the ionization signal can be lost to the charge contacts there and a decreased ionization signal relative to the thermal signal will cause a background event which interacts at the surface to be misidentified as a signal event. We can use information about the shape of the thermal signal pulse to discriminate against these surface events. Using a subset of our calibration set which contains a large fraction of electron events, we can characterize the expected behavior of surface events and construct a cut to remove them from our candidate signal events. This thesis describes the development of the 6 detectors (4 x 250 g Ge and 2 x 100 g Si) used in the 2001-2002 CDMS data run at the Stanford Underground Facility with a total of 119 livedays of data. The preliminary results presented are based on the first use of a beta-eliminating cut based on a maximum-likelihood characterization described above