Searching for ^(76)Ge neutrinoless double beta decay with the CDEX-1B experiment

We operated a p-type point contact high purity germanium(PPCGe)detector(CDEX-1B,1.008 kg)in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory(CJPL)for 500.3 days to search for neutrinoless double beta(0νββ)decay of ^(76)Ge.A total of 504.3 kg⋅day effective exposure data was accumulated.The anti-coincidence and the multi/single-site event(MSE/SSE)discrimination methods were used to suppress the background in the energy region of interest(ROI,1989–2089 keV for this work)with a factor of 23.A background level of 0.33 counts/(keV⋅kg⋅yr)was realized.The lower limit on the half life of^(76)Ge 0νββdecay was constrained as T_(1/2)^(0ν)>1.0×10^(23)yr(90%C.L.),corresponding to the upper limits on the effective Majorana neutrino mass:<mββ><3.2–7.5 eV.

CDEX-1 1 kg point-contact germanium detector for low mass dark matter searches

The CDEX collaboration has been established for direct detection of light dark matter particles, using ultra-low energy threshold point-contact p-type germanium detectors, in China JinPing underground Laboratory （CJPL）. The first 1 kg point-contact germanium detector with a sub-keV energy threshold has been tested in a passive shielding system located in CJPL. The outputs from both the point-contact P＋ electrode and the outside N＋ electrode make it possible to scan the lower energy range of less than 1 keV and at the same time to detect the higher energy range up to 3 MeV. The outputs from both P＋ and N＋ electrode may also provide a more powerful method for signal discrimination for dark matter experiment. Some key parameters, including energy resolution, dead time, decay times of internal X-rays, and system stability, have been tested and measured. The results show that the 1 kg point-contact germanium detector, together with its shielding system and electronics, can run smoothly with good performances. This detector system will be deployed for dark matter search experiments.

Limits on light WIMPs with a 1 kg-scale germanium detector at 160 eVee physics threshold at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory

We report results of a search for light weakly interacting massive particle（WIMP） dark matter from the CDEX-1 experiment at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory（CJPL）. Constraints on WIMP-nucleon spin-independent（SI） and spin-dependent（SD） couplings are derived with a physics threshold of 160 eVee, from an exposure of 737.1 kg-days. The SI and SD limits extend the lower reach of light WIMPs to 2 GeV and improve over our earlier bounds at WIMP mass less than 6 GeV.

Study of the material photon and electron background and the liquid argon detector veto efficiency of the CDEX-10 experiment

The China Dark Matter Experiment （CDEX） is located at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory （CJPL） and aims to directly detect the weakly interacting massive particles （WIMP） flux with high sensitivity in the low mass region. Here we present a study of tile predicted photon and electron backgrounds including the background contribution of the structure materials of the germanium detector, the passive shielding materials, and the intrinsic radioactivity of the liquid argon that serves as an anti-Compton active shielding detector. A detailed geometry is modeled and the background contribution has been simulated based on the measured radioactivities of all possible components within tile GEANT4 program. Then the photon and electron background level in the energy region of interest （〈10-2events-kg1·day 1·keV-1 （cpkkd）） is predicted based on Monte Carlo simulations. The simulated result is consistent with the design goal of the CDEX-10 experiment, 0.1cpkkd, which shows that the active and passive shield design of CDEX-10 is effective and feasible.