Light Dark Matter Search with a High-Resolution Athermal Phonon Detector Operated above Ground

I Alkhatib; D W P Amaral; T Aralis; T Aramaki; I J Arnquist; I Ataee Langroudy; E Azadbakht; S Banik; D Barker; C Bathurst; D A Bauer; L V S Bezerra; R Bhattacharyya; T Binder; M A Bowles; P L Brink; R Bunker; B Cabrera; R Calkins; R A Cameron; C Cartaro; D G Cerdeño; Y-Y Chang; M Chaudhuri; R Chen; N Chott; J Cooley; H Coombes; J Corbett; P Cushman; F De Brienne; M L di Vacri; M D Diamond; E Fascione; E Figueroa-Feliciano; C W Fink; K Fouts; M Fritts; G Gerbier; R Germond; M Ghaith; S R Golwala; H R Harris; N Herbert; B A Hines; M I Hollister; Z Hong; E W Hoppe; L Hsu; M E Huber; V Iyer; D Jardin; A Jastram; V K S Kashyap; M H Kelsey; A Kubik; N A Kurinsky; R E Lawrence; A Li; B Loer; E Lopez Asamar; P Lukens; D MacDonell; D B MacFarlane; R Mahapatra; V Mandic; N Mast; A J Mayer; H Meyer Zu Theenhausen; É M Michaud; E Michielin; N Mirabolfathi; B Mohanty; J D Morales Mendoza; S Nagorny; J Nelson; H Neog; V Novati; J L Orrell; S M Oser; W A Page; P Pakarha; R Partridge; R Podviianiuk; F Ponce; S Poudel; M Pyle; W Rau; E Reid; R Ren; T Reynolds; A Roberts; A E Robinson; T Saab; B Sadoulet; J Sander; A Sattari; R W Schnee; S Scorza; B Serfass; D J Sincavage; C Stanford; J Street; D Toback; R Underwood; S Verma; A N Villano; B von Krosigk; S L Watkins; L Wills; J S Wilson; M J Wilson; J Winchell; D H Wright; S Yellin; B A Young; T C Yu; E Zhang; H G Zhang; X Zhao; L Zheng; J Camilleri; Yu G Kolomensky; S Zuber; SuperCDMS Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.061801

Light Dark Matter Search with a High-Resolution Athermal Phonon Detector Operated above Ground

Phys Rev Lett. 2021 Aug 6;127(6):061801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.061801.

Authors

I Alkhatib¹, D W P Amaral², T Aralis³, T Aramaki⁴, I J Arnquist⁵, I Ataee Langroudy⁶, E Azadbakht⁶, S Banik⁷, D Barker⁸, C Bathurst⁹, D A Bauer¹⁰, L V S Bezerra^{11

12}, R Bhattacharyya⁶, T Binder¹³, M A Bowles¹⁴, P L Brink⁴, R Bunker⁵, B Cabrera¹⁵, R Calkins¹⁶, R A Cameron⁴, C Cartaro⁴, D G Cerdeño^{2

17}, Y-Y Chang³, M Chaudhuri⁷, R Chen¹⁸, N Chott¹⁴, J Cooley¹⁶, H Coombes⁹, J Corbett¹⁹, P Cushman⁸, F De Brienne²⁰, M L di Vacri⁵, M D Diamond¹, E Fascione^{12

19}, E Figueroa-Feliciano¹⁸, C W Fink²¹, K Fouts⁴, M Fritts⁸, G Gerbier¹⁹, R Germond^{12

19}, M Ghaith¹⁹, S R Golwala³, H R Harris^{6

22}, N Herbert⁶, B A Hines²³, M I Hollister¹⁰, Z Hong¹⁸, E W Hoppe⁵, L Hsu¹⁰, M E Huber^{23

24}, V Iyer⁷, D Jardin¹⁶, A Jastram⁶, V K S Kashyap⁷, M H Kelsey⁶, A Kubik⁶, N A Kurinsky¹⁰, R E Lawrence⁶, A Li^{11

12}, B Loer⁵, E Lopez Asamar², P Lukens¹⁰, D MacDonell^{11

12}, D B MacFarlane⁴, R Mahapatra⁶, V Mandic⁸, N Mast⁸, A J Mayer¹², H Meyer Zu Theenhausen²⁵, É M Michaud²⁰, E Michielin^{11

12}, N Mirabolfathi⁶, B Mohanty⁷, J D Morales Mendoza⁶, S Nagorny¹⁹, J Nelson⁸, H Neog⁶, V Novati⁵, J L Orrell⁵, S M Oser^{11

12}, W A Page²¹, P Pakarha¹⁹, R Partridge⁴, R Podviianiuk¹³, F Ponce¹⁵, S Poudel¹³, M Pyle²¹, W Rau¹², E Reid², R Ren¹⁸, T Reynolds⁹, A Roberts²³, A E Robinson²⁰, T Saab⁹, B Sadoulet^{21

26}, J Sander¹³, A Sattari¹, R W Schnee¹⁴, S Scorza²⁷, B Serfass²¹, D J Sincavage⁸, C Stanford¹⁵, J Street¹⁴, D Toback⁶, R Underwood^{12

19}, S Verma⁶, A N Villano²³, B von Krosigk²⁵, S L Watkins²¹, L Wills²⁰, J S Wilson⁶, M J Wilson^{1

25}, J Winchell⁶, D H Wright⁴, S Yellin¹⁵, B A Young²⁸, T C Yu⁴, E Zhang¹, H G Zhang⁸, X Zhao⁶, L Zheng⁶, J Camilleri²¹, Yu G Kolomensky^{21

26}, S Zuber²¹; SuperCDMS Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada.
² Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
³ Division of Physics, Mathematics, & Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
⁴ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
⁷ School of Physical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, HBNI, Jatni-752050, India.
⁸ School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
⁹ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
¹⁰ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
¹¹ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
¹² TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
¹³ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
¹⁷ Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
¹⁸ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3112, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
²⁰ Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada.
²¹ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
²³ Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
²⁴ Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
²⁵ Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
²⁶ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁷ SNOLAB, Creighton Mine #9, 1039 Regional Road 24, Sudbury, Ontario P3Y 1N2, Canada.
²⁸ Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California 95053, USA.

PMID: 34420312
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.061801

Abstract

We present limits on spin-independent dark matter-nucleon interactions using a 10.6 g Si athermal phonon detector with a baseline energy resolution of σ_{E}=3.86±0.04(stat)_{-0.00}^{+0.19}(syst) eV. This exclusion analysis sets the most stringent dark matter-nucleon scattering cross-section limits achieved by a cryogenic detector for dark matter particle masses from 93 to 140 MeV/c^{2}, with a raw exposure of 9.9 g d acquired at an above-ground facility. This work illustrates the scientific potential of detectors with athermal phonon sensors with eV-scale energy resolution for future dark matter searches.