Status of the ANAIS Dark Matter Project at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory

TL;DR

The ANAIS experiment at Canfranc aims to confirm DAMA/LIBRA's dark matter signal using NaI(Tl) crystals, demonstrating low thresholds, well-understood backgrounds, and progressing towards a 112 kg detector setup.

Contribution

This paper reports on the current status, background understanding, and preliminary results of the ANAIS experiment, including new detector installation and sensitivity projections.

Findings

Effective threshold at 1 keVee achieved

Background well understood down to 3 keVee

Preliminary characterization of new detector modules

Abstract

The ANAIS experiment aims at the confirmation of the DAMA/LIBRA signal. A detailed analysis of two NaI(Tl) crystals of 12.5 kg each grown by Alpha Spectra will be shown: effective threshold at 1 keVee is at reach thanks to outstanding light collection and robust PMT noise filtering protocols and the measured background is well understood down to 3 keVee, having quantified K, U and Th content and cosmogenic activation in the crystals. A new detector was installed in Canfranc in March 2015 together with the two previous modules and preliminary characterization results will be presented. Finally, the status and expected sensitivity of the full experiment with 112 kg will be reviewed.