Search for low-mass weakly interacting massive particles with SuperCDMS

R Agnese; A J Anderson; M Asai; D Balakishiyeva; R Basu Thakur; D A Bauer; J Beaty; J Billard; A Borgland; M A Bowles; D Brandt; P L Brink; R Bunker; B Cabrera; D O Caldwell; D G Cerdeno; H Chagani; Y Chen; M Cherry; J Cooley; B Cornell; C H Crewdson; P Cushman; M Daal; D DeVaney; P C F Di Stefano; E Do Couto E Silva; T Doughty; L Esteban; S Fallows; E Figueroa-Feliciano; G L Godfrey; S R Golwala; J Hall; S Hansen; H R Harris; S A Hertel; B A Hines; T Hofer; D Holmgren; L Hsu; M E Huber; A Jastram; O Kamaev; B Kara; M H Kelsey; S Kenany; A Kennedy; M Kiveni; K Koch; A Leder; B Loer; E Lopez Asamar; R Mahapatra; V Mandic; C Martinez; K A McCarthy; N Mirabolfathi; R A Moffatt; R H Nelson; L Novak; K Page; R Partridge; M Pepin; A Phipps; M Platt; K Prasad; M Pyle; H Qiu; W Rau; P Redl; A Reisetter; R W Resch; Y Ricci; M Ruschman; T Saab; B Sadoulet; J Sander; R L Schmitt; K Schneck; R W Schnee; S Scorza; D N Seitz; B Serfass; B Shank; D Speller; A Tomada; S Upadhyayula; A N Villano; B Welliver; D H Wright; S Yellin; J J Yen; B A Young; J Zhang; (SuperCDMS Collaboration)

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.241302

Search for low-mass weakly interacting massive particles with SuperCDMS

Phys Rev Lett. 2014 Jun 20;112(24):241302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.241302. Epub 2014 Jun 20.

Authors

R Agnese¹, A J Anderson², M Asai³, D Balakishiyeva¹, R Basu Thakur⁴, D A Bauer⁵, J Beaty⁶, J Billard², A Borgland³, M A Bowles⁷, D Brandt³, P L Brink³, R Bunker⁷, B Cabrera⁸, D O Caldwell⁹, D G Cerdeno¹⁰, H Chagani⁶, Y Chen⁷, M Cherry³, J Cooley¹¹, B Cornell¹², C H Crewdson¹³, P Cushman⁶, M Daal¹⁴, D DeVaney⁶, P C F Di Stefano¹³, E Do Couto E Silva³, T Doughty¹⁴, L Esteban¹⁰, S Fallows⁶, E Figueroa-Feliciano², G L Godfrey³, S R Golwala¹², J Hall¹⁵, S Hansen⁵, H R Harris¹⁶, S A Hertel², B A Hines¹⁷, T Hofer⁶, D Holmgren⁵, L Hsu⁵, M E Huber¹⁷, A Jastram¹⁶, O Kamaev¹³, B Kara¹¹, M H Kelsey³, S Kenany¹⁴, A Kennedy⁶, M Kiveni⁷, K Koch⁶, A Leder², B Loer⁵, E Lopez Asamar¹⁰, R Mahapatra¹⁶, V Mandic⁶, C Martinez¹³, K A McCarthy², N Mirabolfathi¹⁴, R A Moffatt⁸, R H Nelson¹², L Novak⁸, K Page¹³, R Partridge³, M Pepin⁶, A Phipps¹⁴, M Platt¹⁶, K Prasad¹⁶, M Pyle¹⁴, H Qiu¹¹, W Rau¹³, P Redl⁸, A Reisetter¹⁸, R W Resch³, Y Ricci¹³, M Ruschman⁵, T Saab¹, B Sadoulet¹⁹, J Sander²⁰, R L Schmitt⁵, K Schneck³, R W Schnee⁷, S Scorza¹¹, D N Seitz¹⁴, B Serfass¹⁴, B Shank⁸, D Speller¹⁴, A Tomada³, S Upadhyayula¹⁶, A N Villano⁶, B Welliver¹, D H Wright³, S Yellin⁸, J J Yen⁸, B A Young²¹, J Zhang⁶; (SuperCDMS Collaboration)

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
² Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁴ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA and Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
⁵ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
⁹ Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
¹⁰ Departamento de Física Teórica and Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
¹² Division of Physics, Mathematics, & Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
¹³ Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7 L 3N6, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana 47722, USA.
¹⁹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁰ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
²¹ Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California 95053, USA.

PMID: 24996080
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.241302

Abstract

We report a first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using the background rejection capabilities of SuperCDMS. An exposure of 577 kg days was analyzed for WIMPs with mass <30 GeV/c(2), with the signal region blinded. Eleven events were observed after unblinding. We set an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 1.2×10(-42) cm(2) at 8 GeV/c(2). This result is in tension with WIMP interpretations of recent experiments and probes new parameter space for WIMP-nucleon scattering for WIMP masses <6 GeV/c(2).