Quenching Factor consistency across several NaI(Tl) crystals

31 Aug 2021, 17:10
50m
Talk in parallel session Dark Matter and its detection Discussion Panel Dark Matter 3

Speaker

David Cintas González (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Description

Testing the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation result independently of dark matter particle and halo models has been a challenge for twenty years. Using same target material, NaI(Tl), is required and presently two experiments, ANAIS-112 and COSINE-100, are running for such a goal. However, a precise knowledge of the detector response to nuclear recoils is mandatory because this is the channel where the dark matter signal is expected. The emitted light is quenched with respect to the gamma-calibrated energy by a factor that has to be measured experimentally. However, current quenching factor measurements show a disagreement within the energy region of interest for dark matter searches. To disentangle whether this discrepancy is due to intrinsic differences in the light response among different NaI(Tl) crystals, or has its origin in unaccounted for systematic effects will be key in the comparison among the different experiments. We present measurements of the quenching factors for several small NaI(Tl) crystals performed in the same experimental setup to control systematics. Nuclear recoils were produced by quasi-monoenergetic neutrons, and triggering was done by the scattered neutron interacting in one of the 17 liquid scintillator backing detectors placed at different angles from the NaI(Tl) crystal. This triggering avoids threshold effects that could have affected some of the previous experimental results. In this talk, we will present the results of our experiment and a comparison with those available in the literature. We will also analyze their effect on the annual modulation interpretation.

Primary authors

David Cintas González (Universidad de Zaragoza) Dr. Phil Barbeau Estella Barbosa de Souza Dr. Samuel Hedges Jay Hyun Jo Dr. Maria Martinez (Universidad de Zaragoza) Dr. Reina Maruyama (Yale University) ‪Grayson C. Rich Dr. María Luisa Sarsa (University of Zaragoza) Dr. William Thompson (Yale University)

Presentation Materials

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