First Results from the DRIFT-IIa Dark Matter Detector

Burgos, S.; Forbes, J.; Ghag, C.; Gold, M.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Lawson, T. B.; Loomba, D.; Majewski, P.; Muna, D.; Murphy, A. StJ.; Nicklin, G. G.; Paling, S. M.; Petkov, A.; Plank, S. J. S.; Robinson, M.; Sanghi, N.; Smith, N. J. T.; Snowden-Ifft, D. P.; Spooner, N. J. C.; Sumner, T. J.; Turk, J.; Tziaferi, E.

First Results from the DRIFT-IIa Dark Matter Detector

Authors

Description

Data from the DRIFT-IIa directional dark matter experiment are presented, collected during a near continuous 6 month running period. A detailed calibration analysis comparing data from gamma-ray, x-ray and neutron sources to a GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations reveals an efficiency for detection of neutron induced recoils of 94+/-2(stat.)+/-5(sys.)%. Software-based cuts, designed to remove non-nuclear recoil events, are shown to reject 60Co gamma-rays with a rejection factor of better than 8x10-6 for all energies above threshold. An unexpected event population has been discovered and is shown here to be due to the alpha-decay of 222Rn daughter nuclei that have attached to the central cathode. A limit on the flux of neutrons in the Boulby Underground Laboratory is derived from analysis of unshielded and shielded data.
43 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Astroparticle Physics