Search for inelastic dark matter with the CDMS II experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports a reanalysis of CDMS II data extending the energy range and improving background rejection, leading to new constraints on inelastic dark matter models despite observing some candidate events.

Contribution

The study introduces an extended energy window and enhanced background rejection techniques in the reanalysis of CDMS II data for inelastic dark matter detection.

Findings

Three candidate events observed between 25 keV and 150 keV.

The probability of background events in this range is 11%.

Constraints on inelastic dark matter are slightly weaker than previous results.

Abstract

Results are presented from a reanalysis of the entire five-tower data set acquired with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, with an exposure of 969 kg-days. The analysis window was extended to a recoil energy of 150 keV, and an improved surface-event background-rejection cut was defined to increase the sensitivity of the experiment to the inelastic dark matter (iDM) model. Three dark matter candidates were found between 25 keV and 150 keV. The probability to observe three or more background events in this energy range is 11%. Because of the occurrence of these events the constraints on the iDM parameter space are slightly less stringent than those from our previous analysis, which used an energy window of 10-100 keV.