1. Nuclear-recoil energy scale in CDMS II silicon dark-matter detectors
- Author
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X. Zhao, T. Binder, G.L. Godfrey, J. D. Morales Mendoza, R. Underwood, Martin E. Huber, Tarek Saab, K. Schneck, N. Mast, E. H. Miller, M. Pepin, R. Germond, Yi Chen, B. Welliver, J. Hall, A. W. Borgland, H. R. Harris, W. A. Page, Amy Roberts, Yu Kai Chang, S. Fallows, A. N. Villano, Betty A. Young, M. Ghaith, A. Kubik, R. W. Schnee, V. Iyer, S. M. Oser, R. Basu Thakur, Miguel Daal, H. A. Tanaka, S. J. Yellin, Tsuguo Aramaki, A. Phipps, Hassan Chagani, David G. Cerdeño, K. L. Page, T. Doughty, P. Lukens, S. Banik, R. Partridge, Robert A. Moffatt, Kevin A. McCarthy, John Wilson, B. Cornell, R. Calkins, E. Fascione, Sunil Golwala, P. Redl, Ziqing Hong, P. L. Brink, M. Stein, David Moore, M. Peñalver Martinez, Adam Anderson, M. J. Wilson, E. M. Dragowsky, J. K. Nelson, Donald J. Holmgren, C. Cartaro, W. Rau, David O. Caldwell, H. E. Rogers, M. A. Bowles, P. Cushman, J. Sander, S. Scorza, Danielle Speller, H. Qiu, P. Di Stefano, R. Agnese, J. Street, D. Balakishiyeva, L. Hsu, D. Toback, Matt Pyle, Bruno Serfass, Kartik Senapati, D. Jardin, R. Mahapatra, A. Leder, R. Bunker, A. Reisetter, D. MacDonell, C. Jena, G. Gerbier, L. Esteban, D. Barker, Jodi Cooley, M. H. Kelsey, D. A. Bauer, S. S. Poudel, W. Baker, J. J. Yen, Matthew Fritts, Vuk Mandic, X. Zhang, N. Mirabolfathi, Bedangadas Mohanty, A. Jastram, A. Kennedy, Blas Cabrera, Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano, E. Lopez Asamar, Noah Kurinsky, B. von Krosigk, Bernard Sadoulet, A. E. Robinson, and Douglas Wright
- Subjects
Nuclear and High Energy Physics ,Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors ,Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors ,Dark matter ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Electron ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,High Energy Physics - Experiment ,Nuclear physics ,High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) ,Recoil ,Ionization ,0103 physical sciences ,Neutron ,Physics::Atomic Physics ,010306 general physics ,Nuclear Experiment ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,Instrumentation ,Physics ,Elastic scattering ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) ,3. Good health ,Semiconductor detector ,Cryogenic Dark Matter Search ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics - Abstract
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment aims to detect dark matter particles that elastically scatter from nuclei in semiconductor detectors. The resulting nuclear-recoil energy depositions are detected by ionization and phonon sensors. Neutrons produce a similar spectrum of low-energy nuclear recoils in such detectors, while most other backgrounds produce electron recoils. The absolute energy scale for nuclear recoils is necessary to interpret results correctly. The energy scale can be determined in CDMS II silicon detectors using neutrons incident from a broad-spectrum $^{252}$Cf source, taking advantage of a prominent resonance in the neutron elastic scattering cross section of silicon at a recoil (neutron) energy near 20 (182) keV. Results indicate that the phonon collection efficiency for nuclear recoils is $4.8^{+0.7}_{-0.9}$% lower than for electron recoils of the same energy. Comparisons of the ionization signals for nuclear recoils to those measured previously by other groups at higher electric fields indicate that the ionization collection efficiency for CDMS II silicon detectors operated at $\sim$4 V/cm is consistent with 100% for nuclear recoils below 20 keV and gradually decreases for larger energies to $\sim$75% at 100 keV. The impact of these measurements on previously published CDMS II silicon results is small., Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, 1 table, 1 appendix
- Published
- 2018