Elsevier

Physics Letters B

Volume 711, Issue 2, 3 May 2012, Pages 153-161
Physics Letters B

Constraints on low-mass WIMP interactions on 19F from PICASSO

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2012.03.078Get rights and content
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Abstract

Recent results from the PICASSO dark matter search experiment at SNOLAB are reported. These results were obtained using a subset of 10 detectors with a total target mass of 0.72 kg of 19F and an exposure of 114 kgd. The low backgrounds in PICASSO allow recoil energy thresholds as low as 1.7 keV to be obtained which results in an increased sensitivity to interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with masses below 10 GeV/c2. No dark matter signal was found. Best exclusion limits in the spin dependent sector were obtained for WIMP masses of 20 GeV/c2 with a cross section on protons of σpSD=0.032 pb (90% C.L.). In the spin independent sector close to the low mass region of 7 GeV/c2 favoured by CoGeNT and DAMA/LIBRA, cross sections larger than σpSI=1.41×104 pb (90% C.L.) are excluded.

Keywords

Dark matter
WIMPs
Superheated droplets
SNOLAB

Cited by (0)

1

Present address: Department of Physics, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 2T8, Canada.

2

Present address: AECL Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, K0J 1J0, Canada.

3

Present address: Labaratorium für Hochenergiephysik, Universität Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

4

Present address: TRIUMF, Vancouver, V6T 2A3, Canada.

5

Present address: Faculty of Science, The Kingʼs University College, Edmonton, T6B 2H3, Canada.