First observation of single photons in a CRESST detector and new dark matter exclusion limits
G. Angloher, S. Banik, G. Benato, A. Bento, A. Bertolini, R. Breier, C. Bucci, J. Burkhart, L. Canonica, A. D’Addabbo, S. Di Lorenzo, L. Einfalt, A. Erb, F. von Feilitzsch, S. Fichtinger, D. Fuchs, A. Garai, V. M. Ghete, P. Gorla, P. V. Guillaumon, S. Gupta, D. Hauff, M. Ješkovský, J. Jochum, M. Kaznacheeva, A. Kinast, H. Kluck, H. Kraus, S. Kuckuk, A. Langenkämper, M. Mancuso, L. Marini, B. Mauri, L. Meyer, V. Mokina, M. Olmi, T. Ortmann, C. Pagliarone, L. Pattavina, F. Petricca, W. Potzel, Pavel P. Povinec, F. Pröbst, F. Pucci, F. Reindl, J. Rothe, K. Schäffner, J. Schieck, S. Schönert, C. Schwertner, M. Stahlberg, L. Stodolsky, C. Strandhagen, Du Toit Strauss, I. Usherov, F. Wagner, V. Wagner, V. Zema
Abstract
The main goal of the CRESST-III experiment is the direct detection of dark matter particles via their scattering off target nuclei in cryogenic detectors. In this work we present the results of a silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) detector with a mass of 0.6 g and an energy threshold of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mrow> <a:mo stretchy="false">(</a:mo> <a:mn>6.7</a:mn> <a:mo>±</a:mo> <a:mn>0.2</a:mn> <a:mo stretchy="false">)</a:mo> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mi>eV</a:mi> </a:mrow> </a:math> with a baseline energy resolution of <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:mrow> <e:mo stretchy="false">(</e:mo> <e:mn>1.0</e:mn> <e:mo>±</e:mo> <e:mn>0.2</e:mn> <e:mo stretchy="false">)</e:mo> <e:mtext> </e:mtext> <e:mtext> </e:mtext> <e:mi>eV</e:mi> </e:mrow> </e:math> . This allowed for a calibration via the detection of single luminescence photons in the eV-range, which could be observed in CRESST for the first time. We present new exclusion limits on the spin-independent and spin-dependent dark matter-nucleon cross section that extend to dark matter particle masses of less than <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <i:mrow> <i:mn>100</i:mn> <i:mtext> </i:mtext> <i:mtext> </i:mtext> <i:mi>MeV</i:mi> <i:mo>/</i:mo> <i:msup> <i:mrow> <i:mi mathvariant="normal">c</i:mi> </i:mrow> <i:mrow> <i:mn>2</i:mn> </i:mrow> </i:msup> </i:mrow> </i:math> . Published by the American Physical Society 2024