New limits on spin-independent and spin-dependent couplings of low-mass WIMP dark matter with a germanium detector at a threshold of 220 eV

Lin, S.; Li, H.; Li, X.; Lin, S.; Wong, H.; Deniz, M.; Fang, B.; He, D.; Li, J.; Lin, C.; Lin, F.; Ruan, X.; Singh, V.; Soma, A.; Wang, J.; Wang, Y.; Wu, S.; Yue, Q.; Zhou, Z.

doi:10.1103/physrevd.79.061101

New limits on spin-independent and spin-dependent couplings of low-mass WIMP dark matter with a germanium detector at a threshold of 220 eV

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Lin S. T., Li H. B., Li X., Lin S. K., Wong H. T., Deniz M., ...More

PHYSICAL REVIEW D, vol.79, no.6, 2009 (SCI-Expanded)

Publication Type: Article / Article
Volume: 79 Issue: 6
Publication Date: 2009
Doi Number: 10.1103/physrevd.79.061101
Journal Name: PHYSICAL REVIEW D
Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
Middle East Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

An energy threshold of (220 +/- 10) eV was achieved at an efficiency of 50% with a four-channel ultralow-energy germanium detector, each with an active mass of 5 g. This provides a unique probe to weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) dark matter with mass below 10 GeV. With a data acquisition live time of 0.338 kg-day at the Kuo-Sheng Laboratory, constraints on WIMPs in the galactic halo were derived. The limits improve over previous results on both spin-independent WIMP-nucleon and spin-dependent WIMP-neutron cross-sections for WIMP mass between 3 and 6 GeV. Sensitivities for full-scale experiments are projected. This detector technique makes the unexplored sub-keV energy window accessible for new neutrino and dark matter experiments.