Mainz 2014 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 9: Dunkle Materie 1

T 9.3: Group Report

Monday, March 24, 2014, 11:30–11:50, P11

Direct Dark Matter Search with CRESST - A First Glance at New Data — •Raimund Strauss for the CRESST collaboration — Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, D-80805 München, Germany

The CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) experiment, located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) in Italy, aims at the direct detection of Dark Matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Scintillating CaWO₄ single crystals operated as phonon detectors at mK temperatures are used as target material. The simultaneously measured scintillation-light output of particle interactions allows an event-by-event discrimination of backgrounds from possible WIMP-induced signals.
A new measuring campaign of CRESST with a total active target mass of ∼5 kg has started in summer 2013. New detector concepts, self-grown CaWO₄ crystals with a highly improved radiopurity, and an additional shielding of the setup allow to lower the background level significantly in comparison to previous runs. CRESST, therefore, has the potential to clarify whether the low-mass WIMP scenario is valid or otherwise to set competitive limits for the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section. In this talk, we describe the performance of the present setup and discuss first data.