First Dark Matter Constraints from a SuperCDMS Single-Charge Sensitive Detector

R Agnese; T Aralis; T Aramaki; I J Arnquist; E Azadbakht; W Baker; S Banik; D Barker; D A Bauer; T Binder; M A Bowles; P L Brink; R Bunker; B Cabrera; R Calkins; C Cartaro; D G Cerdeño; Y-Y Chang; J Cooley; B Cornell; P Cushman; P C F Di Stefano; T Doughty; E Fascione; E Figueroa-Feliciano; C Fink; M Fritts; G Gerbier; R Germond; M Ghaith; S R Golwala; H R Harris; Z Hong; E W Hoppe; L Hsu; M E Huber; V Iyer; D Jardin; C Jena; M H Kelsey; A Kennedy; A Kubik; N A Kurinsky; R E Lawrence; J V Leyva; B Loer; E Lopez Asamar; P Lukens; D MacDonell; R Mahapatra; V Mandic; N Mast; E H Miller; N Mirabolfathi; B Mohanty; J D Morales Mendoza; J Nelson; J L Orrell; S M Oser; W A Page; R Partridge; M Pepin; A Phipps; F Ponce; S Poudel; M Pyle; H Qiu; W Rau; A Reisetter; T Reynolds; A Roberts; A E Robinson; H E Rogers; R K Romani; T Saab; B Sadoulet; J Sander; A Scarff; R W Schnee; S Scorza; K Senapati; B Serfass; J So; D Speller; C Stanford; M Stein; J Street; H A Tanaka; D Toback; R Underwood; A N Villano; B von Krosigk; S L Watkins; J S Wilson; M J Wilson; J Winchell; D H Wright; S Yellin; B A Young; X Zhang; X Zhao

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051301

First Dark Matter Constraints from a SuperCDMS Single-Charge Sensitive Detector

Phys Rev Lett. 2018 Aug 3;121(5):051301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051301.

Authors

R Agnese¹, T Aralis², T Aramaki³, I J Arnquist⁴, E Azadbakht⁵, W Baker⁵, S Banik⁶, D Barker⁷, D A Bauer⁸, T Binder⁹, M A Bowles¹⁰, P L Brink³, R Bunker⁴, B Cabrera¹¹, R Calkins¹², C Cartaro³, D G Cerdeño^{13

14}, Y-Y Chang², J Cooley¹², B Cornell², P Cushman⁷, P C F Di Stefano¹⁵, T Doughty¹⁶, E Fascione¹⁵, E Figueroa-Feliciano¹⁷, C Fink¹⁶, M Fritts⁷, G Gerbier¹⁵, R Germond¹⁵, M Ghaith¹⁵, S R Golwala², H R Harris⁵, Z Hong¹⁷, E W Hoppe⁴, L Hsu⁸, M E Huber^{18

19}, V Iyer⁶, D Jardin¹², C Jena⁶, M H Kelsey³, A Kennedy⁷, A Kubik⁵, N A Kurinsky^{3

11}, R E Lawrence⁵, J V Leyva^{20

11}, B Loer⁴, E Lopez Asamar¹³, P Lukens⁸, D MacDonell^{21

22}, R Mahapatra⁵, V Mandic⁷, N Mast⁷, E H Miller¹⁰, N Mirabolfathi⁵, B Mohanty⁶, J D Morales Mendoza⁵, J Nelson⁷, J L Orrell⁴, S M Oser^{21

22}, W A Page^{21

22}, R Partridge³, M Pepin⁷, A Phipps¹⁶, F Ponce¹¹, S Poudel⁹, M Pyle¹⁶, H Qiu¹², W Rau¹⁵, A Reisetter²³, T Reynolds¹, A Roberts¹⁸, A E Robinson²⁴, H E Rogers⁷, R K Romani¹¹, T Saab¹, B Sadoulet^{25

16}, J Sander⁹, A Scarff^{21

22}, R W Schnee¹⁰, S Scorza²⁶, K Senapati⁶, B Serfass¹⁶, J So¹⁰, D Speller¹⁶, C Stanford¹¹, M Stein¹², J Street¹⁰, H A Tanaka²⁷, D Toback⁵, R Underwood¹⁵, A N Villano⁷, B von Krosigk^{21

22}, S L Watkins¹⁶, J S Wilson⁵, M J Wilson²⁷, J Winchell⁵, D H Wright³, S Yellin¹¹, B A Young^{20

11}, X Zhang¹⁵, X Zhao⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
² Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁴ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
⁶ School of Physical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, HBNI, Jatni-752050, India.
⁷ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
⁸ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
⁹ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Physics, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
¹¹ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
¹² Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
¹³ Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3112, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
²⁰ Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California 95053, USA.
²¹ TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
²² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
²³ Department of Physics, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana 47722, USA.
²⁴ Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada.
²⁵ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁶ SNOLAB, Creighton Mine #9, 1039 Regional Road 24, Sudbury, Ontario P3Y 1N2, Canada.
²⁷ Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada.

PMID: 30118251
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051301

Abstract

We present the first limits on inelastic electron-scattering dark matter and dark photon absorption using a prototype SuperCDMS detector having a charge resolution of 0.1 electron-hole pairs (CDMS HVeV, a 0.93 g CDMS high-voltage device). These electron-recoil limits significantly improve experimental constraints on dark matter particles with masses as low as 1 MeV/c^{2}. We demonstrate a sensitivity to dark photons competitive with other leading approaches but using substantially less exposure (0.49 g d). These results demonstrate the scientific potential of phonon-mediated semiconductor detectors that are sensitive to single electronic excitations.