The Majorana Demonstrator Low-Energy Rare Event Search

ORAL

Abstract

The extremely low backgrounds of the \textsc{Majorana Demonstrator} neutrinoless double beta decay experiment, combined with the excellent energy resolution of its high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors, provide an opportunity for a dark matter search at low energy ($<$100 keV). The \textsc{Demonstrator} is in the final stages of construction at the 4850-ft. level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD. The first detector module, consisting of 16.8 kg of HPGe enriched to 88\% $^{76}$Ge and 5.7 kg of natural HPGe, took 100.6 live days of commissioning data before going blind on April 14th, 2016, and the second module is nearing completion at the time of this writing. The enriched detectors have particularly low levels of cosmogenic activation from their specialized manufacturing process. These ultra-low background designs are suited to rare event searches at low energies, including light WIMPs ($<$10 GeV/c$^2$) and solar axions. In this talk an update of the \textsc{Majorana} low-energy research program will be presented.

Authors

  • Clinton Wiseman

    University of South Carolina