November 2018

Conference Paper

Dark matter sensitivities of the Majorana Demonstrator

By:
Giovanetti, G. K.; Aguayo, E.; Avignone Iii, Frank T; Beene, James R; Bertrand Jr, Fred E; Cooper, Reynold J; Efremenko, Yuri V; Radford, David C; Varner Jr, Robert L; Wilkerson, John F; Yu, Chang-Hong ; Zhang, C.
Journal Name:
Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Page Number:
12014
Volume:
375
Issue Number:
1
Publication Date:
November 7, 2018
Conference Name:
12th International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics (TAUP)
Conference Location:
Munich, Germany
Conference Sponsor:
Various
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/375/1/012014

Abstract

The Majorana Demonstrator is an array of natural and enriched high purity germanium detectors that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Germanium-76 and perform a search for weakly interacting massive particles with masses below 10 GeV. To reach the background rate goal in the neutrinoless double-beta decay region of interest of 4 counts/keV/t/y, the DEMONSTRATOR will utilize a number of background reduction strategies, including a time-correlated event cut for 68Ge that requires a sub-keV energy threshold. This low energy threshold allows the DEMONSTRATOR to extend its physics reach to include a search for light WIMPs. We will discuss the detector systems and data analysis techniques required to achieve sub-keV thresholds as well as present the projected dark matter sensitivities of the Majorana Demonstrator.