First Dark Matter Constraints from a SuperCDMS Single-Charge Sensitive Detector
R. Agnese (Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA); T. Aralis (Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA); T. Aramaki (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA); I. J. Arnquist (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA); E. Azadbakht (Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA); et al - Show all 101 authors
We present the first limits on inelastic electron-scattering dark matter and dark photon absorption using a prototype SuperCDMS detector having a charge resolution of 0.1 electron-hole pairs (CDMS HVeV, a 0.93 g CDMS high-voltage device). These electron-recoil limits significantly improve experimental constraints on dark matter particles with masses as low as . We demonstrate a sensitivity to dark photons competitive with other leading approaches but using substantially less exposure (0.49 g d). These results demonstrate the scientific potential of phonon-mediated semiconductor detectors that are sensitive to single electronic excitations.
