First observation of isolated nuclear recoils following neutron capture for dark matter calibration

A. N. Villano; Matthew C Fritts; N. Mast; S. Brown; P. Cushman; K. Harris; V. Mandic

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.083014

First observation of isolated nuclear recoils following neutron capture for dark matter calibration

A. N. Villano, Matthew C Fritts, N. Mast, S. Brown, P. Cushman, K. Harris, V. Mandic

Physics and Astronomy (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Low-energy nuclear recoils (NRs) are hard to measure, because they produce few e-/h+ pairs in solids - i.e., they have low "ionization yield."A silicon detector was exposed to thermal neutrons over 2.5 live days, probing NRs down to 450 eV. The observation of a neutron capture-induced component of NRs at low energies is supported by the much-improved fit upon inclusion of a capture NR model. This result shows that thermal neutron calibration of very low recoil energy NRs is promising for dark matter searches, coherent neutrino experiments, and improving understanding of ionization dynamics in solids.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	083014
Journal	Physical Review D
Volume	105
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.105.083014
State	Published - Apr 15 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank the SuperCDMS Collaboration for the use of the detector and readout electronics. This work was supported by Department of Energy Grants No. DE-SC0012294 and No. DE-SC0021364 and Grant No. NSF-1743790 via the Partnerships for International Research and Education programs (PIRE). We also acknowledge the support of the Germanium Materials and Detectors Advancement Research Consortium (GEMADARC).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Physical Society.

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title = "First observation of isolated nuclear recoils following neutron capture for dark matter calibration",

abstract = "Low-energy nuclear recoils (NRs) are hard to measure, because they produce few e-/h+ pairs in solids - i.e., they have low {"}ionization yield.{"}A silicon detector was exposed to thermal neutrons over 2.5 live days, probing NRs down to 450 eV. The observation of a neutron capture-induced component of NRs at low energies is supported by the much-improved fit upon inclusion of a capture NR model. This result shows that thermal neutron calibration of very low recoil energy NRs is promising for dark matter searches, coherent neutrino experiments, and improving understanding of ionization dynamics in solids.",

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note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the SuperCDMS Collaboration for the use of the detector and readout electronics. This work was supported by Department of Energy Grants No. DE-SC0012294 and No. DE-SC0021364 and Grant No. NSF-1743790 via the Partnerships for International Research and Education programs (PIRE). We also acknowledge the support of the Germanium Materials and Detectors Advancement Research Consortium (GEMADARC). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 American Physical Society.",

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AU - Villano, A. N.

AU - Fritts, Matthew C

AU - Mast, N.

AU - Brown, S.

AU - Cushman, P.

AU - Harris, K.

AU - Mandic, V.

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First observation of isolated nuclear recoils following neutron capture for dark matter calibration

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