WIMP hunting with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) seeks to directly detect the scattering of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter in an array of cryogenic particle detectors at Soudan Underground Laboratory. CDMS uses simultaneous measurements of ionization and phonons to discriminate between nuclear and electron recoils on an event-by-event basis. The most recent run of CDMS at Soudan accumulated 397.8 (53.5) kg-days of Ge (Si) exposure and observed no candidate events, setting the strongest limit to date on spin-independent WIMPnucleon interactions at WIMP masses ≳ 44GeV/c². CDMS also sets competitive upper limits on various axion-like models. A data set ∼ 2.5 × larger is currently under analysis, and prototype detectors for the larger-scale SuperCDMS experiment are currently acquiring data at Soudan.