Discovery of underground argon with low level of radioactive 39Ar and possible applications to WIMP dark matter detectors

Abstract

We report on the first measurement of 39Ar in argon from underground natural gas reservoirs. The gas stored in the US National Helium Reserve was found to contain a low level of 39Ar. The ratio of 39Ar to stable argon was found to be <=4x10-17 (84% C.L.), less than 5% the value in atmospheric argon (39Ar/Ar=8x10-16). The total quantity of argon currently stored in the National Helium Reserve is estimated at 1000 tons. 39Ar represents one of the most important backgrounds in argon detectors for WIMP dark matter searches. The findings reported demonstrate the possibility of constructing large multi-ton argon detectors with low radioactivity suitable for WIMP dark matter searches.

arXiv comment6 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (5)

• Limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interactions from the two-tower run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search
• First results from a Dark Matter search with liquid Argon at 87 K in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory
• First limits on WIMP nuclear recoil signals in ZEPLIN-II: a two phase xenon detector for dark matter detection
• Measurement of the specific activity of Ar-39 in natural argon
• Tracing Noble Gas Radionuclides in the Environment

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Measuring Active-to-Sterile Neutrino Oscillations with Neutral Current Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
• Coherent Neutrino Scattering in Dark Matter Detectors
• A Review of Basic Energy Reconstruction Techniques in Liquid Xenon and Argon Detectors for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics Using NEST
• Introduction to dark matter experiments
• Sensitivity of the COHERENT Experiment to Accelerator-Produced Dark Matter
• Studies of a three-stage dark matter and neutrino observatory based on multi-ton combinations of liquid xenon and liquid argon detectors
• Dark Matter Search Experiments