Abstract
The CRESST-II experiment uses cryogenic detectors to search for nuclear recoil events induced by the elastic scattering of dark matter particles in CaWO$_4$ crystals. Given the low energy threshold of our detectors in combination with light target nuclei, low mass dark matter particles can be probed with high sensitivity. In this letter we present the results from data of a single detector module corresponding to 52 kg live days. A blind analysis is carried out. With an energy threshold for nuclear recoils of 307 eV we substantially enhance the sensitivity for light dark matter. Thereby, we extend the reach of direct dark matter experiments to the sub-region and demonstrate that the energy threshold is the key parameter in the search for low mass dark matter particles.
Highlights
Today, there is overwhelming evidence for the existence of dark matter
One of the most favored solutions is the existence of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) thermally produced in the early universe
The Lee– Weinberg bound excludes WIMPs lighter than ∼2 GeV/c2, since they would lead to an overclosure of the universe [2]
Summary
E.g. of the cosmic microwave background, ascribe roughly one fourth of the energy density of the universe to dark matter, five times more than ordinary matter [1]. One of the most favored solutions is the existence of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) thermally produced in the early universe. Those particles are beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and would have a mass in the range of ∼10 GeV/c2 to 1 TeV/c2 and an interaction cross section of the weak scale. While most of the energy deposited in a particle interaction induces a phonon (heat) signal, a small fraction ( 5 %) is emitted as scintillation light. The phonon signal yields a precise energy measurement, whereas the simultaneously
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