First dark matter search results from a 4-kg CF3I bubble chamber operated in a deep underground site

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevD.86.052001

Abstract

New data are reported from the operation of a 4.0 kg CF3I bubble chamber in the 6800-foot-deep SNOLAB underground laboratory. The effectiveness of ultrasound analysis in discriminating alpha-decay background events from single nuclear recoils has been confirmed, with a lower bound of >99.3% rejection of alpha-decay events. Twenty single nuclear recoil event candidates and three multiple bubble events were observed during a total exposure of 553 kg-days distributed over three different bubble nucleation thresholds. The effective exposure for single bubble recoil-like events was 437.4 kg-days. A neutron background internal to the apparatus, of known origin, is estimated to account for five single nuclear recoil events and is consistent with the observed rate of multiple bubble events. This observation provides world best direct detection constraints on WIMP-proton spin-dependent scattering for WIMP masses >20 GeV/c^2 and demonstrates significant sensitivity for spin-independent interactions.

Comments

Lead author: Edward Behnke

Corresponding author: Michael B. Crisler

Collaboration: COUPP

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