Secular equilibrium assessment in a CaWO 4 target crystal from the dark matter experiment CRESST using Bayesian likelihood normalisation

• Published in: Applied radiation and isotopes Vol. 194; p. 110670
• Main Authors: Angloher, G, Banik, S, Benato, G, Bento, A, Bertolini, A, Breier, R, Bucci, C, Burkhart, J, Canonica, L, D'Addabbo, A, Di Lorenzo, S, Einfalt, L, Erb, A, Feilitzsch, F V, Ferreiro Iachellini, N, Fichtinger, S, Fuchs, D, Fuss, A, Garai, A, Ghete, V M, Gorla, P, Gupta, S, Hauff, D, Ješkovský, M, Jochum, J, Kaznacheeva, M, Kinast, A, Kluck, H, Kraus, H, Langenkämper, A, Mancuso, M, Marini, L, Mokina, V, Nilima, A, Olmi, M, Ortmann, T, Pagliarone, C, Pattavina, L, Petricca, F, Potzel, W, Povinec, P, Pröbst, F, Pucci, F, Reindl, F, Rothe, J, Schäffner, K, Schieck, J, Schmiedmayer, D, Schönert, S, Schwertner, C, Stahlberg, M, Stodolsky, L, Strandhagen, C, Strauss, R, Usherov, I, Wagner, F, Willers, M, Zema, V, Ferella, F, Laubenstein, M, Nisi, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.04.2023
• Subjects: Background model; Secular equilibrium; Dark matter
• ISSN: 1872-9800

CRESST is a leading direct detection sub-GeVc dark matter experiment. During its second phase, cryogenic bolometers were used to detect nuclear recoils off the CaWO target crystal nuclei. The previously established electromagnetic background model relies on Secular Equilibrium (SE) assumptions. In this work, a validation of SE is attempted by comparing two likelihood-based normalisation results using a recently developed spectral template normalisation method based on Bayesian likelihood. Albeit we find deviations from SE in some cases we conclude that these deviations are artefacts of the fit and that the assumptions of SE is physically meaningful.