We present a new analysis of previously published SuperCDMS data using a profile likelihood framework to search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles through two inelastic scattering channels: ...bremsstrahlung radiation and the Migdal effect. By considering these possible inelastic scattering channels, experimental sensitivity can be extended to DM masses that are undetectable through the DM-nucleon elastic scattering channel, given the energy threshold of current experiments. We exclude DM masses down to 220 MeV/c2 at 2.7 x 10-30 cm2 via the bremsstrahlung channel. The Migdal channel search provides overall considerably more stringent limits and excludes DM masses down to 30 MeV/ c2 at 5.0 x 10-30 cm2.
Neutrinoless double-beta (0 ν β β ) decay is a hypothesized lepton-number-violating process that offers the only known means of asserting the possible Majorana nature of neutrino mass. The Cryogenic ...Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an upcoming experiment designed to search for 0 ν β β decay of 130Te using an array of 988 TeO2 crystal bolometers operated at 10 mK. The detector will contain 206 kg of 130Te and have an average energy resolution of 5 keV; the projected 0 ν β β decay half-life sensitivity after five years of livetime is 1.6 × 1026 y at 1 σ (9.5 × 1025 y at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40–100 meV (50–130 meV). In this paper, we review the experimental techniques used in CUORE as well as its current status and anticipated physics reach.
The past few decades have seen major developments in the design and operation of cryogenic particle detectors. This technology offers an extremely good energy resolution – comparable to semiconductor ...detectors – and a wide choice of target materials, making low temperature calorimetric detectors ideal for a variety of particle physics applications. Rare event searches have continued to require ever greater exposures, which has driven them to ever larger cryogenic detectors, with the CUORE experiment being the first to reach a tonne-scale, mK-cooled, experimental mass. CUORE, designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay, has been operational since 2017 at a temperature of about 10 mK. This result has been attained by the use of an unprecedentedly large cryogenic infrastructure called the CUORE cryostat: conceived, designed and commissioned for this purpose.
In this article the main characteristics and features of the cryogenic facility developed for the CUORE experiment are highlighted. A brief introduction of the evolution of the field and of the past cryogenic facilities are given. The motivation behind the design and development of the CUORE cryogenic facility is detailed as are the steps taken toward realization, commissioning, and operation of the CUORE cryostat. The major challenges overcome by the collaboration and the solutions implemented throughout the building of the cryogenic facility will be discussed along with the potential improvements for future facilities.
The success of CUORE has opened the door to a new generation of large-scale cryogenic facilities in numerous fields of science. Broader implications of the incredible feat achieved by the CUORE collaboration on the future cryogenic facilities in various fields ranging from neutrino and dark matter experiments to quantum computing will be examined.
Two photo-neutron sources, Y 88 Be9 and Sb124 Be9 , have been used to investigate the ionization yield of nuclear recoils in the CDMSlite germanium detectors by the SuperCDMS collaboration. In this ...study, we evaluate the yield for nuclear recoil energies between 1 and 7 keV at a temperature of ~ 50 mK . We use a geant4 simulation to model the neutron spectrum assuming a charge yield model that is a generalization of the standard Lindhard model and consists of two energy dependent parameters. We perform a likelihood analysis using the simulated neutron spectrum, modeled background, and experimental data to obtain the best fit values of the yield model. The ionization yield between recoil energies of 1 and 7 keV is shown to be significantly lower than predicted by the standard Lindhard model for germanium. There is a general lack of agreement among different experiments using a variety of techniques studying the low energy range of the nuclear recoil yield, which is most critical for interpretation of direct dark matter searches. This suggests complexity in the physical process that many direct detection experiments use to model their primary signal detection mechanism and highlights the need for further studies to clarify underlying systematic effects that have not been well understood up to this point.
The LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter search aims to achieve a sensitivity to the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section down to (1–2)×10−12 pb at a WIMP mass of 40 GeV/c2. This paper describes the ...simulations framework that, along with radioactivity measurements, was used to support this projection, and also to provide mock data for validating reconstruction and analysis software. Of particular note are the event generators, which allow us to model the background radiation, and the detector response physics used in the production of raw signals, which can be converted into digitized waveforms similar to data from the operational detector. Inclusion of the detector response allows us to process simulated data using the same analysis routines as developed to process the experimental data.
Neutrinoless double beta decay (
0
ν
β
β
) is one of the most sensitive probes for physics beyond the Standard Model, providing unique information on the nature of neutrinos. In this paper we review ...the status and outlook for bolometric
0
ν
β
β
decay searches. We summarize recent advances in background suppression demonstrated using bolometers with simultaneous readout of heat and light signals. We simulate several configurations of a future CUORE-like bolometer array which would utilize these improvements and present the sensitivity reach of a hypothetical next-generation bolometric
0
ν
β
β
experiment. We demonstrate that a bolometric experiment with the isotope mass of about 1 ton is capable of reaching the sensitivity to the effective Majorana neutrino mass (
|
m
e
e
|
) of order 10–20 meV, thus completely exploring the so-called inverted neutrino mass hierarchy region. We highlight the main challenges and identify priorities for an R&D program addressing them.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The CUORE experiment will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of super(130)Te with an array of 988 TeO sub(2) bolometers arranged in 19 towers. CUORE-0, the first tower assembled according to ...the CUORE procedures, was built and commissioned at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, and took data from March 2013 to March 2015. In this paper we describe the design, construction and operation of the CUORE-0 experiment, with an emphasis on the improvements made over a predecessor experiment, Cuoricino. In particular, we demonstrate with CUORE-0 data that the design goals of CUORE are within reach.
We measured the nuclear-recoil ionization yield in silicon with a cryogenic phonon-sensitive gram-scale detector. Neutrons from a mono-energetic beam scatter off of the silicon nuclei at angles ...corresponding to energy depositions from 4 keV down to 100 eV, the lowest energy probed so far. The results show no sign of an ionization production threshold above 100 eV. In conclusion, these results call for further investigation of the ionization yield theory and a comprehensive determination of the detector response function at energies below the keV scale.