Low Energy Electron and Nuclear Recoil Thresholds in the DRIFT-II Negative Ion TPC for Dark Matter Searches
arXiv:0903.0326 · doi:10.1088/1748-0221/4/04/P04014
Abstract
Understanding the ability to measure and discriminate particle events at the lowest possible energy is an essential requirement in developing new experiments to search for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. In this paper we detail an assessment of the potential sensitivity below 10 keV in the 1 m^3 DRIFT-II directionally sensitive, low pressure, negative ion time projection chamber (NITPC), based on event-by-event track reconstruction and calorimetry in the multiwire proportional chamber (MWPC) readout. By application of a digital smoothing polynomial it is shown that the detector is sensitive to sulfur and carbon recoils down to 2.9 and 1.9 keV respectively, and 1.2 keV for electron induced events. The energy sensitivity is demonstrated through the 5.9 keV gamma spectrum of 55Fe, where the energy resolution is sufficient to identify the escape peak. The effect a lower energy sensitivity on the WIMP exclusion limit is demonstrated. In addition to recoil direction reconstruction for WIMP searches this sensitivity suggests new prospects for applications also in KK axion searches.
References in corpus (7)
- Directional statistics for WIMP direct detection
- First Results from the DRIFT-IIa Dark Matter Detector
- The CAST Time Projection Chamber
- Measurement of the Range Component Directional Signature in a DRIFT-II Detector using 252Cf Neutrons
- Track Reconstruction and Performance of DRIFT Directional Dark Matter Detectors using Alpha Particles
- Measurements of W-value, Mobility and Gas Gain in Electronegative Gaseous CS2 and CS2 Gas Mixtures
- The DRIFT Directional Dark Matter Detector and First Studies of the Head-Tail Effect
Cited by in corpus (5)
- The case for a directional dark matter detector and the status of current experimental efforts
- Readout technologies for directional WIMP Dark Matter detection
- The Directional Dark Matter Detector
- Long-term study of backgrounds in the DRIFT-II directional dark matter experiment
- Probing light WIMPs with directional detection experiments