We present the first Ge-based constraints on sub-MeV /c2 dark matter (DM) particles interacting with electrons using a 33.4 g Ge cryogenic detector with a 0.53 electron-hole pair (rms) resolution, ...operated underground at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. Competitive constraints are set on the DM-electron scattering cross section, as well as on the kinetic mixing parameter of dark photons down to 1 eV / c2. In particular, the most stringent limits are set for dark photon DM in the 6 to 9 eV / c2 range. These results demonstrate the high relevance of Ge cryogenic detectors for the search of DM-induced eV-scale electron signals.
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Achieving a percentage-level precision measurement of the coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering (CE
ν
NS) spectrum requires a robust data processing pipeline which can be characterised with ...great precision. To fulfil this goal, we present hereafter a new Python-based data processing pipeline specifically designed for temporal data analysis and pulse amplitude estimation. This pipeline features a data generator allowing to accurately simulate the expected data stream from the
Ricochet
experiment at the Institut Laue Langevin nuclear reactor, including both background and CE
ν
NS signals. This data generator is pivotal to fully understand and characterise the data processing overall efficiency, its reconstruction biases, and to properly optimise its configuration parameters. We show that thanks to this optimised data processing pipeline, the CryoCube detector array will be able to achieve a 70 eV energy threshold combined with electronic/nuclear recoil discrimination down to
∼
100 eV, hence fulfilling the
Ricochet
targeted performance.
The reactor antineutrino anomaly might be explained by the oscillation of reactor antineutrinos toward a sterile neutrino of eV mass. In order to explore this hypothesis, the STEREO experiment ...measures the antineutrino energy spectrum in six different detector cells covering baselines between 9 and 11 m from the compact core of the ILL research reactor. In this Letter, results from 66 days of reactor turned on and 138 days of reactor turned off are reported. A novel method to extract the antineutrino rates has been developed based on the distribution of the pulse shape discrimination parameter. The test of a new oscillation toward a sterile neutrino is performed by comparing ratios of cells, independent of absolute normalization and of the prediction of the reactor spectrum. The results are found to be compatible with the null oscillation hypothesis and the best fit of the reactor antineutrino anomaly is excluded at 97.5% C.L.
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Anomalies in past neutrino measurements have led to the discovery that these particles have non-zero mass and oscillate between their three flavours when they propagate. In the 2010s, similar ...anomalies observed in the antineutrino spectra emitted by nuclear reactors have triggered the hypothesis of the existence of a supplementary neutrino state that would be sterile, that is, not interacting by means of the weak interaction1. The STEREO experiment2-6 was designed to investigate this conjecture, which would potentially extend the standard model of particle physics. Here we present an analysis of the full set of data generated by STEREO, confirming observed anomalies while rejecting the hypothesis of a light sterile neutrino. Installed at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) research reactor, STEREO accurately measures the antineutrino energy spectrum associated to the fission of 235U. The segmentation of the detector and its very short distance to the compact core are crucial properties of STEREO for our analysis. The measured antineutrino energy spectrum suggests that anomalies originate from biases in the nuclear experimental data used for the predictions7,8. Our result supports the neutrino content of the standard model and establishes a new reference for the 235U antineutrino energy spectrum. We anticipate that this result will allow progress towards finer tests of the fundamental properties of neutrinos but also to benchmark models and nuclear data of interest for reactor physics9,10 and for observations of astrophysical or geoneutrinos11,12.
Different extensions of the standard model of particle physics, such as braneworld or mirror matter models, predict the existence of a neutron sterile state, possibly as a dark matter candidate. This ...Letter reports a new experimental constraint on the probability p for neutron conversion into a hidden neutron, set by the STEREO experiment at the high flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin. The limit is p<3.1×10^{-11} at 95% C.L. improving the previous limit by a factor of 13. This result demonstrates that short-baseline neutrino experiments can be used as competitive passing-through-walls neutron experiments to search for hidden neutrons.
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The
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reactor neutrino observatory is planned to be installed at Institut Laue–Langevin starting in mid-2022. The scientific goal of the
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collaboration is to perform a low-energy and ...percentage precision CENNS measurement in order to explore exotic physics scenarios beyond the standard model. To that end,
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will host two cryogenic detector arrays: the CryoCube (Ge target) and the Q-ARRAY (Zn target), both with unprecedented sensitivity to
O
(10) eV nuclear recoils. The CryoCube will be composed of 27 Ge crystals of 38 g instrumented with NTD-Ge thermal sensor as well as aluminum electrodes operated at 10 mK in order to measure both the ionization and the heat energies arising from a particle interaction. To be a competitive CENNS detector, the CryoCube array is designed with the following specifications: a low-energy threshold (
∼
50
eV), the ability to identify and reject with a high efficiency the overwhelming electromagnetic backgrounds (gamma, beta, and X-rays), and a sufficient payload (
∼
1
kg). After a brief introduction of the future
Ricochet
experiment and its CryoCube, the current works and first performance results on the optimization of the heat channel, and the electrode designs will be presented. We conclude with a preliminary estimation of the CryoCube sensitivity to the CENNS signal within
Ricochet
.
.
The STEREO experiment measures the electron antineutrino spectrum emitted in a research reactor using the inverse beta decay reaction on H nuclei in a gadolinium loaded liquid scintillator. The ...detection is based on a signal coincidence of a prompt positron and a delayed neutron capture event. The simulated response of the neutron capture on gadolinium is crucial for the comparison with data, in particular in the case of the detection efficiency. Among all stable isotopes,
155
Gd and
157
Gd have the highest cross sections for thermal neutron capture. The excited nuclei after the neutron capture emit gamma rays with a total energy of about 8MeV. The complex level schemes of
156
Gd and
158
Gd are a challenge for the modeling and prediction of the deexcitation spectrum, especially for compact detectors where gamma rays can escape the active volume. With a new description of the Gd (n,
γ
) cascades obtained using the FIFRELIN code, the agreement between simulation and measurements with a neutron calibration source was significantly improved in the STEREO experiment. A database of ten millions of deexcitation cascades for each isotope has been generated and is now available for the user.
The R
icochet
reactor neutrino observatory is planned to be installed at the Laue Langevin Institute starting mid-2022. Its scientific goal is to perform a low-energy and high precision measurement ...of the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering spectrum in order to explore exotic physics scenarios. R
icochet
will host two cryogenic detector arrays: the CryoCube (Ge target) and the Q-
array
(Zn target), operated at 10 mK. The 1 kg Ge CryoCube will consist of 27 Ge crystals instrumented with NTD-Ge thermal sensors and charge collection electrodes for a simultaneous heat and ionization readout to reject the electromagnetic backgrounds (gamma, beta, x-rays). We present the status of its front-end electronics. The first stage of amplification is made of High Electron Mobility Transistors developed by CNRS/C2N laboratory, optimized to achieve ultra-low noise performance at 1 K with a dissipation as low as 15
μ
W per channel. Our noise model predicts that 10 eV heat and 20 eV
ee
RMS baseline resolutions are feasible with a high dynamic range for the deposited energy (up to 10 MeV) thanks to loop amplification schemes. Such resolutions are mandatory to have a high discrimination power between nuclear and electron recoils at the lowest energies.
High Impedance TES Bolometers for EDELWEISS Marnieros, S.; Armengaud, E.; Arnaud, Q. ...
Journal of low temperature physics,
06/2023, Volume:
211, Issue:
5-6
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The EDELWEISS collaboration aims for direct detection of light dark matter using germanium cryogenic detectors with low threshold phonon sensor technologies and efficient charge readout designs. We ...describe here the development of Ge bolometers equipped with high impedance thermistors based on a Nb
x
Si
1−x
TES alloy. High aspect ratio spiral designs allow the TES impedance to match with JFET or HEMT front-end amplifiers. We detail the behavior of the superconducting transition properties of these sensors and the detector optimization in terms of sensitivity to a-thermal phonons. We report preliminary results of a 200 g Ge detector that was calibrated using
71
Ge activation by neutrons at the LSM underground laboratory.
The search for a light sterile neutrino started to be a popular topic in neutrino physics, since the observation of the "gallium anomaly" and "reactor anomaly" in which a deficit of neutrinos was ...observed relative to the prediction. Such anomalies could be explained by short distance oscillations towards a sterile state with Δm2 ∼ 1eV2. In a highly competitive context, several projects were started to search for a light sterile neutrino. This paper will focus on the STEREO experiment for which a detector has been designed to observe the electron antineutrino energy spectrum distortion from 3 to 8 MeV due to such a new L/E oscillation, and should therefore confirm or reject the light sterile neutrino hypothesis. Electron anti-neutrinos produced by the compact reactor core of the Institut Laue-Langevin will be detected in a 6-cell segmented volume of Gd-loaded liquid scintillator through the inverse β-decay process. The STEREO detector was completed in November 2016 and was commissioned right away, STEREO is currently taking data. In this paper we will present the final design of the detector and the first results of the commissioning.
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