Ionization yield measurement in a germanium CDMSlite detector using photo-neutron sources

TL;DR

This study measures the ionization yield of nuclear recoils in germanium detectors at low energies using photo-neutron sources, revealing yields lower than standard models predict and emphasizing the need for further research in dark matter detection techniques.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of low-energy nuclear recoil ionization yield in germanium using photo-neutron sources, challenging existing models and highlighting experimental discrepancies.

Findings

Ionization yield is significantly lower than Lindhard model predictions.

Discrepancies exist among different experiments in low-energy nuclear recoil measurements.

Results suggest complex physical processes affecting signal modeling in dark matter searches.

Abstract

Two photo-neutron sources, $^{88}$Y$^{9}$Be and $^{124}$Sb$^{9}$Be, have been used to investigate the ionization yield of nuclear recoils in the CDMSlite germanium detectors by the SuperCDMS collaboration. This work evaluates the yield for nuclear recoil energies between 1 keV and 7 keV at a temperature of $\sim$ 50 mK. We use a Geant4 simulation to model the neutron spectrum assuming a charge yield model that is a generalization of the standard Lindhard model and consists of two energy dependent parameters. We perform a likelihood analysis using the simulated neutron spectrum, modeled background, and experimental data to obtain the best fit values of the yield model. The ionization yield between recoil energies of 1 keV and 7 keV is shown to be significantly lower than predicted by the standard Lindhard model for germanium. There is a general lack of agreement among different experiments using a variety of techniques studying the low-energy range of the nuclear recoil yield, which is most critical for interpretation of direct dark matter searches. This suggests complexity in the physical process that many direct detection experiments use to model their primary signal detection mechanism and highlights the need for further studies to clarify underlying systematic effects that have not been well understood up to this point.