Speaker
Description
SuperCDMS is a direct detection dark matter (DM) experiment which is currently in its commissioning phase at the SNOLAB underground laboratory in Sudbury, Canada. It operates cryogenically cooled Ge and Si crystals with different sensor designs to perform a broadband DM search for particles with masses $\le 10\, \text{GeV}/c^2$, thereby exploring new regions of parameter space.
Achieving this sensitivity requires an ultra-low background environment and a thorough understanding of the background composition. This relies on dedicated simulations providing sufficient statistics. SuperCDMS background simulations are based on Geant4 and cover radioactive contamination of materials, activation due to cosmogenic radiation, exposure to radon, accumulation of dust on surfaces and also cosmic muons.
Of particular interest are long-lived radon daughters which can get implanted in material surfaces. Dedicated simulation studies have been performed to investigate the implantation of $^{210}$Pb in Ge and Si crystals.
Another background study is focused on cosmic muons. Even though the muon flux deep underground at SNOLAB is only 0.27 $\mu$/m$^2$/day, muon interactions with the cavern rock or the experiment's materials can produce a large number of high-energy gammas or neutrons which may hit the detectors and mimic a potential signal.
This talk will give an overview of SuperCDMS background simulations, which serve as the foundation for a comprehensive background model. I will also discuss the $^{210}$Pb implantation studies and give an example of how to simulate cosmic muons with Geant4.
| Keyword-1 | Geant4 simulations |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | dark matter |