Scintillation efficiency measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) below the DAMA/LIBRA energy threshold

Abstract

The dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal depends on the NaI(Tl) scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils. Previous measurements for Na recoils have large discrepancies, especially in the DAMA/LIBRA modulation energy region. We report a quenching effect measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) from 3keV${}_{\text{nr}}$ to 52keV${}_{\text{nr}}$, covering the whole DAMA/LIBRA energy region for light WIMP interpretations. By using a low-energy, pulsed neutron beam, a double time-of-flight technique, and pulse-shape discrimination methods, we obtained the most accurate measurement of this kind for NaI(Tl) to date. The results differ significantly from the DAMA reported values at low energies, but fall between the other previous measurements. We present the implications of the new quenching results for the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal.

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Cited by in corpus (31)

• Dark matter direct-detection experiments
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• Annual modulation results from three-year exposure of ANAIS-112
• Dark Matter implications of DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 results
• Strong constraints from COSINE-100 on the DAMA dark matter results using the same sodium iodide target
• Annual Modulation in Direct Dark Matter Searches
• Response of CsI[Na] to Nuclear Recoils: Impact on Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$\nu$NS)
• Model-independent comparison of annual modulation and total rate with direct detection experiments
• Exploring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering using reactor electron antineutrinos in the NEON experiment
• Understanding NaI(Tl) crystal background for dark matter searches
• DAMA confronts null searches in the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions
• Optimized velocity distributions for direct dark matter detection
• Improved model-dependent corollary analyses after the first six annual cycles of DAMA/LIBRA-phase2
• Quenching factor measurements of sodium nuclear recoils in NaI:Tl determined by spectrum fitting
• Comparison between DAMA/LIBRA and COSINE-100 in the light of Quenching Factors
• Limits on Interactions between Weakly Interacting Massive Particles and Nucleons Obtained with NaI(Tl) crystal Detectors
• Improving ANAIS-112 sensitivity to DAMA/LIBRA signal with machine learning techniques
• Fermionic Dark Matter through a Light Pseudoscalar Portal: Hints from the DAMA Results
• Simulation and background characterisation of the SABRE South experiment
• Prospect of undoped inorganic crystals at 77 Kelvin for low-mass dark matter search at Spallation Neutron Source
• Study on NaI(Tl) crystal at -35 C for dark matter detection
• Waveform Simulation for Scintillation Characteristics of NaI(Tl) Crystal
• SABRE and the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory: Dark Matter Research at the Australian National University
• COSINE-100 Full Dataset Challenges the Annual Modulation Signal of DAMA/LIBRA
• Quenching Measurements and Modeling of a Boron-Loaded Organic Liquid Scintillator
• Lowering threshold of NaI(Tl) scintillator to 0.7 keV in the COSINE-100 experiment
• Detection and Calibration of Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils for Dark Matter and Neutrino Scattering Experiments
• Search for dark matter annual modulation with DarkSide-50
• Influence of NaI background and mass on testing the DAMA modulation
• Understanding internal backgrounds of NaI(Tl) crystals toward a 200~kg array for the KIMS-NaI experiment
• Direct search of dark matter with the SABRE experiment