2004/08/31 by G. Angloher, C. Bucci, P. Christ +22 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2005.01.006
published as Astropart.Phys.23:325-339,2005 · 24 pages, 10 figures, version v2 includes figures with improved print quality, v3 accepted for publication in astroparticle physics
arxiv created 2005/01/17 · openalex publication_date 2005/01/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present first significant limits on WIMP dark matter by the phonon-light technique, where combined phonon and light signals from a scintillating cryogenic detector are used. Data from early 2004 with two 300 g CRESST-II prototype detector modules are presented, with a net exposure of 20.5 kg days. The modules consist of a CaWO4 scintillating ``target'' crystal and a smaller cryogenic light detector. The combination of phonon and light signals leads to a strong suppression of non-nuclear recoil backgrounds. Using this information to define an acceptance region for nuclear recoils we have 16 events from the two modules, corresponding to a rate for nuclear recoils between 12 and 40 keV of (0.87 +- 0.22) events/(kg day). This is compatible with the rate expected from neutron background, and most of these events lie in the region of the phonon-light plane anticipated for neutron-induced recoils. A particularly strong limit for WIMPs with coherent scattering results from selecting a region of the phonon-light plane corresponding to tungsten recoils, where the best module shows zero events.