Results from the Final Exposure of the CDMS II Experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports the final results from the CDMS II dark matter search, setting new upper limits on WIMP-nucleon cross-sections and excluding parts of inelastic dark matter parameter space based on a 612 kg-day exposure.

Contribution

It provides the final analysis of CDMS II data, improving constraints on WIMP interactions and exploring inelastic dark matter models.

Findings

Observed two events consistent with background

Set upper limit of 7.0x10^{-44} cm^2 for 70 GeV/c^2 WIMPs

Excluded new parameter space in inelastic dark matter models

Abstract

We report results from a blind analysis of the final data taken with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment (CDMS II) at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, Minnesota, USA. A total raw exposure of 612 kg-days was analyzed for this work. We observed two events in the signal region; based on our background estimate, the probability of observing two or more background events is 23%. These data set an upper limit on the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP)-nucleon elastic-scattering spin-independent cross-section of 7.0x10^{-44} cm^2 for a WIMP of mass 70 GeV/c^2 at the 90% confidence level. Combining this result with all previous CDMS II data gives an upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section of 3.8x10^{-44} cm^2 for a WIMP of mass 70 GeV/c^2. We also exclude new parameter space in recently proposed inelastic dark matter models.