Abstract
Models for light dark matter particles with masses below 1 GeV/c2 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-cleus experiment has achieved an energy threshold of Eth= (19.7 ± 0.9 ) eV. This is one order of magnitude lower than for previous devices 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 and 500 MeV/c2.
Originalsprache | Englisch |
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Aufsatznummer | 637 |
Fachzeitschrift | European Physical Journal C |
Jahrgang | 77 |
Ausgabenummer | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publikationsstatus | Veröffentlicht - 1 Sept. 2017 |
Extern publiziert | Ja |