First background-free limit from a directional dark matter experiment: results from a fully fiducialised DRIFT detector

Abstract

The addition of O2 to gas mixtures in time projection chambers containing CS2 has recently been shown to produce multiple negative ions that travel at slightly different velocities. This allows a measurement of the absolute position of ionising events in the z (drift) direction. In this work, we apply the z-fiducialisation technique to a directional dark matter search. In particular, we present results from a 46.3 live-day source-free exposure of the DRIFT-IId detector run in this completely new mode. With full-volume fiducialisation, we have achieved the first background-free operation of a directional detector. The resulting exclusion curve for spin-dependent WIMP-proton interactions reaches 1.1 pb at 100 GeV/c2, a factor of 2 better than our previous work. We describe the automated analysis used here, and argue that detector upgrades, implemented after the acquisition of these data, will bring an additional factor of >3 improvement in the near future.

19 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (15)

• First results from the LUX dark matter experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility
• Dark Matter Candidates from Particle Physics and Methods of Detection
• Dark Matter Results from 225 Live Days of XENON100 Data
• Search for Low-Mass WIMPs with SuperCDMS
• First dark matter search results from a 4-kg CF${}_3$I bubble chamber operated in a deep underground site
• First Dark Matter Search Results from a Surface Run of the 10-L DMTPC Directional Dark Matter Detector
• Optimizing WIMP directional detectors
• First Results from the DRIFT-IIa Dark Matter Detector
• First measurement of the Head-Tail directional nuclear recoil signature at energies relevant to WIMP dark matter searches
• Measurement of the Range Component Directional Signature in a DRIFT-II Detector using 252Cf Neutrons
• Bragg-like curve for dark matter searches; binary gases
• Radon in the DRIFT-II directional dark matter TPC: emanation, detection and mitigation
• Measurements of W-value, Mobility and Gas Gain in Electronegative Gaseous CS2 and CS2 Gas Mixtures
• Reducing DRIFT Backgrounds with a Submicron Aluminized-Mylar Cathode
• Background Assay and Rejection in DRIFT

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The novel properties of SF${}_6$ for directional dark matter experiments
• Dark matter directional detection in non-relativistic effective theories
• GEM-based TPC with CCD Imaging for Directional Dark Matter Detection
• Reducing DRIFT Backgrounds with a Submicron Aluminized-Mylar Cathode
• Discretising the velocity distribution for directional dark matter experiments
• Measurement of directional range components of nuclear recoil tracks in a fiducialised dark matter detector
• Dark Matter Directionality Revisited with a High Pressure Xenon Gas Detector