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Models for light dark matter particles with masses below 1 GeV/c 2 are a natural and well-motivated alternative to so-far unobserved weakly interacting massive particles. Gram-scale cryogenic calorimeters provide the required detector performance to detect these particles and extend the direct dark matter search program of CRESST. A prototype 0.5 g sapphire detector developed for the ν -cleus experiment has achieved an energy threshold of E t h = ( 19.7 ± 0.9 )  eV. This is one order of magnitude lower than for previous devices and independent of the type of particle interaction. The result presented here is obtained in a setup above ground without significant shielding against ambient and cosmogenic radiation. Although operated in a high-background environment, the detector probes a new range of light-mass dark matter particles previously not accessible by direct searches. We report the first limit on the spin-independent dark matter particle-nucleon cross section for masses between 140 and 500 MeV/c 2 .

The CRESST-II experiment uses cryogenic detectors to search for nuclear recoil events induced by the elastic scattering of dark matter particles in CaWO 4  crystals. Given the low energy threshold of our detectors in combination with light target nuclei, low mass dark matter particles can be probed with high sensitivity. In this letter we present the results from data of a single detector module corresponding to 52 kg live days. A blind analysis is carried out. With an energy threshold for nuclear recoils of 307 eV we substantially enhance the sensitivity for light dark matter. Thereby, we extend the reach of direct dark matter experiments to the sub- GeV/ c 2  region and demonstrate that the energy threshold is the key parameter in the search for low mass dark matter particles.

The CRESST-II cryogenic Dark Matter search, aiming at detection of WIMPs via elastic scattering off nuclei in CaWO 4 crystals, completed 730 kg days of data taking in 2011. We present the data collected with eight detector modules, each with a two-channel readout; one for a phonon signal and the other for coincidently produced scintillation light. The former provides a precise measure of the energy deposited by an interaction, and the ratio of scintillation light to deposited energy can be used to discriminate different types of interacting particles and thus to distinguish possible signal events from the dominant backgrounds. Sixty-seven events are found in the acceptance region where a WIMP signal in the form of low energy nuclear recoils would be expected. We estimate background contributions to this observation from four sources: (1) “leakage” from the e / γ -band (2) “leakage” from the α -particle band (3) neutrons and (4)  206 Pb recoils from 210 Po decay. Using a maximum likelihood analysis, we find, at a statistical significance of more than 4 σ , that these sources alone are not sufficient to explain the data. The addition of a signal due to scattering of relatively light WIMPs could account for this discrepancy, and we determine the associated WIMP parameters.

Coherent elastic neutrino–nucleus scattering (CEνNS) offers a unique way to study neutrino properties and to search for new physics beyond the Standard Model. Nuclear reactors are promising sources to explore this process at low energies since they deliver large fluxes of anti-neutrinos with typical energies of a few MeV. In this paper, a new-generation experiment to study CEνNS is described. The NUCLEUS experiment will use cryogenic detectors which feature an unprecedentedly low-energy threshold and a time response fast enough to be operated under above-ground conditions. Both sensitivity to low-energy nuclear recoils and a high event rate tolerance are stringent requirements to measuring CEνNS of reactor anti-neutrinos. A new experimental site, the Very-Near-Site (VNS), at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France is described. The VNS is located between the two 4.25 GWth reactor cores and matches the requirements of NUCLEUS. First results of on-site measurements of neutron and muon backgrounds, the expected dominant background contributions, are given. In this paper a preliminary experimental set-up with dedicated active and passive background reduction techniques and first background estimations are presented. Furthermore, the feasibility to operate the detectors in coincidence with an active muon veto at shallow overburden is studied. The paper concludes with a sensitivity study pointing out the physics potential of NUCLEUS at the Chooz nuclear power plant.

The NUCLEUS experiment aims for the detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering at a nuclear power reactor with gram-scale, ultra-low-threshold cryogenic detectors. This technology leads to a miniaturization of neutrino detectors and allows to probe physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. A 0.5 g NUCLEUS prototype detector, operated above ground in 2017, reached an energy threshold for nuclear recoils of below 20 eV. This sensitivity is achieved with tungsten transition edge sensors which are operating at temperatures of 15 mK and are mainly sensitive to non-thermal phonons. These small recoil energies become accessible for the first time with this technology, which allows collecting large-statistics neutrino event samples with a moderate detector mass. A first-phase cryogenic detector array with a total mass of 10 g enables a 5-sigma observation of coherent scattering within several weeks. We identified a suitable experimental site at the Chooz Nuclear Power Plant and performed muon and neutron background measurements there. The operation of a NUCLEUS cryogenic detector array at such a site requires highly efficient background suppression. NUCLEUS plans to use an innovative technique consisting of separate cryogenic anticoincidence detectors against surface backgrounds and penetrating (gamma, neutron) radiation. We present first results from prototypes of these veto detectors and their operation in coincidence with a NUCLEUS target detector.

Recoilless resonant capture of monoenergetic electron antineutrinos (Mössbauer antineutrinos) emitted in bound-state β-decay in the system 3H – 3He is discussed. The recoilfree fraction including a possible phonon excitation due to local lattice expansion and contraction at the time of the nuclear transition, homogeneous and inhomogeneous line broadening, and the relativistic second-order Doppler effect are considered. It is demonstrated that homogeneous line broadening is essential due to stochastic magnetic relaxation processes in a metallic lattice. Inhomogeneous line broadening plays an equally important role. An essential issue which has been overlooked up to now, is an energy shift of the resonance line due to the direct influence of the binding energies of the 3H and 3He atoms in the lattice on the energy of the electron antineutrinos. This energy shift as well as the second-order Doppler shift exhibit variations in a non-perfect (inhomogeneous) lattice and may seriously jeopardize the observation of Mössbauer antineutrinos. If successful in spite of these enormous difficulties, Mössbauer antineutrino experiments could be used to gain new and deep insights into the nature of neutrino oscillations, determine the neutrino mass hierarchy as well as up to now unknown oscillation parameters, search for sterile neutrinos, and measure the gravitational redshift of electron antineutrinos in the field of the Earth.

Scintillating CaWO 4 single crystals are a promising multi-element target for rare-event searches and are currently used in the direct dark matter experiment CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers). The relative light output of different particle interactions in CaWO 4 is quantified by quenching factors (QFs). These are essential for an active background discrimination and the identification of a possible signal induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). We present the first precise measurements of the QFs of O, Ca and W at mK temperatures by irradiating a cryogenic detector with a fast neutron beam. A clear energy dependence of the QF of O and, less pronounced, of Ca was observed for the first time. Furthermore, in CRESST neutron-calibration data a variation of the QFs among different CaWO 4 single crystals was found. For typical CRESST detectors the QFs in the region-of-interest (10–40 keV) are QF O ROI = ( 11.2 ± 0.5 )  %, QF Ca ROI = ( 5.94 ± 0.49 )  % and QF W ROI = ( 1.72 ± 0.21 )  %. The latest CRESST data (run32) is reanalyzed using these fundamentally new results on light quenching in CaWO 4 having moderate influence on the WIMP analysis. Their relevance for future CRESST runs and for the clarification of previously published results of direct dark matter experiments is emphasised.

The cryogenic dark matter experiment CRESST-II aims at the direct detection of WIMPs via elastic scattering off nuclei in scintillating CaWO 4 crystals. We present a new, highly improved, detector design installed in the current run of CRESST-II Phase 2 with an efficient active rejection of surface-alpha backgrounds. Using CaWO 4 sticks instead of metal clamps to hold the target crystal, a detector housing with fully-scintillating inner surface could be realized. The presented detector (TUM40) provides an excellent threshold of ∼ 0.60  keV and a resolution of σ ≈ 0.090  keV (at 2.60 keV). With significantly reduced background levels, TUM40 sets stringent limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section and probes a new region of parameter space for WIMP masses below 3 GeV/c 2 . In this paper, we discuss the novel detector design and the surface-alpha event rejection in detail.

The scintillation light of liquid argon has been recorded wavelength and time resolved with very good statistics in a wavelength interval ranging from 118 nm through 970 nm. Three different ion beams, protons, sulfur ions and gold ions, were used to excite liquid argon. Only minor differences were observed in the wavelength-spectra obtained with the different incident particles. Light emission in the wavelength range of the third excimer continuum was found to be strongly suppressed in the liquid phase. In time-resolved measurements, the time structure of the scintillation light can be directly attributed to wavelength in our studies, as no wavelength shifter has been used. These measurements confirm that the singlet-to-triplet intensity ratio in the second excimer continuum range is a useful parameter for particle discrimination, which can also be employed in wavelength-integrated measurements as long as the sensitivity of the detector system does not rise steeply for wavelengths longer than 190 nm. Using our values for the singlet-to-triplet ratio down to low energies deposited a discrimination threshold between incident protons and sulfur ions as low as ∼2.5 keV seems possible, which represents the principle limit for the discrimination of these two species in liquid argon.

Cryogenic rare event searches based on heat and light composite calorimeters have a common need for large area photon detectors with high quantum efficiency, good radiopurity and high sensitivity. By employing the Neganov–Trofimov–Luke effect, the phonon signal of particle interactions in a semiconductor absorber operated at cryogenic temperatures can be amplified by drifting the photogenerated electrons and holes in an electric field. We present here the most recent results of a Neganov–Trofimov–Luke effect light detector with an electric field configuration optimized to improve the charge collection within the absorber.