Exploring Low-Mass Dark Matter with CRESST

• Published in: Journal of low temperature physics Vol. 184; no. 3-4; pp. 866 - 872
• Main Authors: Strauss, R., Angloher, G., Bento, A., Bucci, C., Canonica, L., Defay, X., Erb, A., Feilitzsch, F. v., Ferreiro Iachellini, N., Gorla, P., Gütlein, A., Hauff, D., Jochum, J., Kiefer, M., Kluck, H., Kraus, H., Lanfranchi, J. C., Loebell, J., Münster, A., Pagliarone, C., Petricca, F., Potzel, W., Pröbst, F., Reindl, F., Schäffner, K., Schieck, J., Schönert, S., Seidel, W., Stodolsky, L., Strandhagen, C., Tanzke, A., Trinh Thi, H. H., Türkoglu, C., Uffinger, M., Ulrich, A., Usherov, I., Wawoczny, S., Willers, M., Wüstrich, M., Zöller, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2016
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Magnetic Materials; Magnetism; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Dark matter; Cryogenic detector; Low-mass dark matter particles
• ISSN: 0022-2291; 1573-7357
• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-016-1492-1

The CRESST-II (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) experiment, whose second phase has been successfully finished in summer 2015, aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles. The intrinsic radiopurity of CaWO 4 crystals, the capability to reject recoil events from alpha-surface contamination, and the energy threshold were significantly improved compared to previous runs of the experiment. A moderate exposure of 29 kg-days acquired by one ∼ 250 g CaWO 4 detector provides competitive limits on the spin-independent dark matter particle-nucleon cross section and probes a new region of parameter space for dark matter particle masses below 3 GeV/c 2 . The potential for low-mass dark matter particle search can be further exploited by a new detector design planned for CRESST-III. We describe the experimental strategy for the near future and give projections for the sensitivity.