First Dark Matter Limits from a Large-Mass, Low-Background Superheated Droplet Detector
Astrophysics
2008-12-01 v3 Condensed Matter
High Energy Physics - Experiment
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Nuclear Experiment
Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract
We report on the fabrication aspects and calibration of the first large active mass ( g) modules of SIMPLE, a search for particle dark matter using Superheated Droplet Detectors (SDDs). While still limited by the statistical uncertainty of the small data sample on hand, the first weeks of operation in the new underground laboratory of Rustrel-Pays d'Apt already provide a sensitivity to axially-coupled Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) competitive with leading experiments, confirming SDDs as a convenient, low-cost alternative for WIMP detection.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0001511,
title = {First Dark Matter Limits from a Large-Mass, Low-Background Superheated Droplet Detector},
author = {J. I. Collar and J. Puibasset and T. A. Girard and D. Limagne and H. S. Miley and G. Waysand},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0001511},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
Final version, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press)