arXiv subjects

Y. D. Kim

Publications and source records attributed to Y. D. Kim.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Development of low-background photomultiplier tubes for liquid xenon detectors

We successfully developed a new photomultiplier tube (PMT) with a three-inch diameter, convex-shaped photocathode, R13111. Its prominent features include good performance and ultra-low radioactivity. The convex-shaped photocathode realized a large photon acceptance and good timing resolution. Low radioactivity was achieved by three factors: (1) the glass material was synthesized using low-radioactive-contamination material; (2) the photocathode was produced with $^{39}$K-enriched potassium; and (3) the purest grade of aluminum material was used for the vacuum seal. As a result each R13111 PMT contains only about 0.4 mBq of $^{226}$Ra, less than 2 mBq of $^{238}$U, 0.3 mBq of $^{228}$Ra, 2 mBq of $^{40}$K and 0.2 mBq of $^{60}$Co. We also examined and resolved the intrinsic leakage of Xe gas into PMTs that was observed in several older models. We thus succeeded in developing a PMT that has low background, large angular acceptance with high collection efficiency, good timing resolution, and long-term stable operation. These features are highly desirable for experiments searching for rare events beyond the standard model, such as dark matter particle interactions and neutrinoless double beta decay events.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Search for exotic neutrino-electron interactions using solar neutrinos in XMASS-I

We have searched for exotic neutrino-electron interactions that could be produced by a neutrino millicharge, by a neutrino magnetic moment, or by dark photons using solar neutrinos in the XMASS-I liquid xenon detector. We observed no significant signals in 711 days of data. We obtain an upper limit for neutrino millicharge of 5.4$\times$10$^{-12} e$ at 90\% confidence level assuming all three species of neutrino have common millicharge. We also set flavor dependent limits assuming the respective neutrino flavor is the only one carrying a millicharge, $7.3 \times 10^{-12} e$ for $ν_e$, $1.1 \times 10^{-11} e$ for $ν_μ$, and $1.1 \times 10^{-11} e$ for $ν_τ$. These limits are the most stringent yet obtained from direct measurements. We also obtain an upper limit for the neutrino magnetic moment of 1.8$\times$10$^{-10}$ Bohr magnetons. In addition, we obtain upper limits for the coupling constant of dark photons in the $U(1)_{B-L}$ model of 1.3$\times$10$^{-6}$ if the dark photon mass is 1$\times 10^{-3}$ MeV$/c^{2}$, and 8.8$\times$10$^{-5}$ if it is 10 MeV$/c^{2}$.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Improving the light collection using a new NaI(Tl)crystal encapsulation

NaI(Tl) crystals are used as particle detectors in a variety of rare-event search experiments because of their superb light-emission quality. The crystal light yield is generally high, above 10 photoelectrons per keV, and its emission spectrum is peaked around 400 nm, which matches well to the sensitive region of bialkali photocathode photomultiplier tubes. However, since NaI(Tl) crystals are hygroscopic, a sophisticated method of encapsulation has to be applied that prevents moisture from chemically attacking the crystal and thereby degrading the emission. In addition, operation with low energy thresholds, which is essential for a number of new phenomenon searches, is usually limited by the crystal light yield; in these cases higher light yields can translate into lower thresholds that improve the experimental sensitivity. Here we describe the development of an encapsulation technique that simplifies the overall design by attaching the photo sensors directly to the crystal so that light losses are minimized. The light yield of a NaI(Tl) crystal encapsulated with this technique was improved by more than 30%, and as many as 22 photoelectrons per keV have been measured. Consequently, the energy threshold can be lowered and the energy resolution improved. Detectors with this higher light yield are sensitive to events with sub-keV energies and well suited for low-mass dark matter particle searches and measurements of neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Measurement of the cosmic muon annual and diurnal flux variation with the COSINE-100 detector

We report measurements of annual and diurnal modulations of the cosmic-ray muon rate in the Yangyang underground laboratory (Y2L) using 952 days of COSINE-100 data acquired between September 2016 and July 2019. A correlation of the muon rate with the atmospheric temperature is observed and its amplitude on the muon rate is determined. The effective atmospheric temperature and muon rate variations are positively correlated with a measured effective temperature coefficient of $α_{T}$ = 0.80 $\pm$ 0.11. This result is consistent with a model of meson production in the atmosphere. We also searched for a diurnal modulation in the underground muon rate by comparing one-hour intervals. No significant diurnal modulation of the muon rate was observed.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Growth and development of pure Li2MoO4 crystals for rare event experiment at CUP

The Center for Underground Physics (CUP) of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) is searching for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0ν\b{eta}\b{eta}) of 100Mo in the molybdate crystals of the AMoRE experiment. The experiment requires pure scintillation crystals to minimize internal backgrounds that can affect the 0ν\b{eta}\b{eta} signal. For the last few years, we have been growing and studying Li2MoO4 crystals in a clean-environment facility to minimize external contamination during the crystal growth. Before growing Li2100MoO4 crystal, we have studied Li2natMoO4 crystal growth by a conventional Czochralski (CZ) grower. We grew a few different kinds of Li2natMO4 crystals using different raw materials in a campaign to minimize impurities. We prepared the fused Al2O3 refractories for the growth of ingots. Purities of the grown crystals were measured with high purity germanium detectors and by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results show that the Li2MoO4 crystal has purity levels suitable for rare-event experiments. In this study, we present the growth of Li2MoO4 crystals at CUP and their purities.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Purification and recovery of 100MoO3 in crystal production for AMoRE experiment

The AMoRE collaboration searches for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 100Mo with ultra-radiopure molybdate crystals operated as low-temperature scintillating bolometers. For such a rare event search experiment, the techniques for investigating and reducing radioactive background contaminants in detector materials are extremely crucial. This paper discusses techniques for deep purification of enriched molybdenum for growing the crystals and the recovery of 100MoO3 from the residual melt left after growing lithium molybdate crystals. The purities of enriched molybdenum trioxide powders before and after the purification and that of the recovered powder were tested with ICP-MS; results of these tests are presented.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Projected WIMP sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment

LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a next generation dark matter direct detection experiment that will operate 4850 feet underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. Using a two-phase xenon detector with an active mass of 7~tonnes, LZ will search primarily for low-energy interactions with Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which are hypothesized to make up the dark matter in our galactic halo. In this paper, the projected WIMP sensitivity of LZ is presented based on the latest background estimates and simulations of the detector. For a 1000~live day run using a 5.6~tonne fiducial mass, LZ is projected to exclude at 90\% confidence level spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections above $1.4 \times 10^{-48}$~cm$^{2}$ for a 40~$\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2}$ mass WIMP. Additionally, a $5σ$ discovery potential is projected reaching cross sections below the exclusion limits of recent experiments. For spin-dependent WIMP-neutron(-proton) scattering, a sensitivity of $2.3 \times 10^{-43}$~cm$^{2}$ ($7.1 \times 10^{-42}$~cm$^{2}$) for a 40~$\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2}$ mass WIMP is expected. With underground installation well underway, LZ is on track for commissioning at SURF in 2020.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Comparison between DAMA/LIBRA and COSINE-100 in the light of Quenching Factors

There is a long standing debate about whether or not the annual modulation signal reported by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration is induced by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles~(WIMP) in the galaxy's dark matter halo scattering from nuclides in their NaI(Tl) crystal target/detector. This is because regions of WIMP-mass vs. WIMP-nucleon cross-section parameter space that can accommodate the DAMA/LIBRA-phase1 modulation signal in the context of the standard WIMP dark matter galactic halo and isospin-conserving~(canonical), spin-independent~(SI) WIMP-nucleon interactions have been excluded by many of other dark matter search experiments including COSINE-100, which uses the same NaI(Tl) target/detector material. Moreover, the recently released DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 results are inconsistent with an interpretation as WIMP-nuclide scattering via the canonical SI interaction and prefer, instead, isospin-violating or spin-dependent interactions. Dark matter interpretations of the DAMA/LIBRA signal are sensitive to the NaI(Tl) scintillation efficiency for nuclear recoils, which is characterized by so-called quenching factors~(QF), and the QF values used in previous studies differ significantly from recently reported measurements, which may have led to incorrect interpretations of the DAMA/LIBRA signal. In this article, the compatibility of the DAMA/LIBRA and COSINE-100 results, in light of the new QF measurements is examined for different possible types of WIMP-nucleon interactions. The resulting allowed parameter space regions associated with the DAMA/LIBRA signal are explicitly compared with 90\% confidence level upper limits from the initial 59.5~day COSINE-100 exposure. With the newly measured QF values, the allowed 3$σ$ regions from the DAMA/LIBRA data are still generally excluded by the COSINE-100 data.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

Study of cosmogenic radionuclides in the COSINE-100 NaI(Tl) detectors

COSINE-100 is a direct detection dark matter search experiment that uses a 106 kg array of eight NaI(Tl) crystals that are kept underground at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory to avoid cosmogenic activation of radioisotopes by cosmic rays. Even though the cosmogenic activity is declining with time, there are still significant background rates from the remnant nuclides. In this paper, we report measurements of cosmogenic isotope contaminations with less than one year half-lives that are based on extrapolations of the time dependent activities of their characteristic energy peaks to activity rates at the time the crystals were deployed underground. For longer-lived $^{109}$Cd ($T_{1/2}=1.6$ y) and $^{22}$Na ($T_{1/2}=2.6$ y), we investigate time correlations of characteristic $γ$/X-ray peaks. The inferred sea-level production rates are compared with caluclations based on the ACTIVIA and MENDL-2 model calculations and experimental data. For $^{3}$H, which has a long, 12.3 year half-life, we evaluated the activity levels from the exposure times and determined a cosmogenic activation rate that is consistent with other measurements.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

A Study of NaI(Tl) crystal Encapsulation using Organic scintillators for the Dark Matter Search

Scintillating NaI(Tl) crystals are used for various rare decay experiments, such as dark matter searches. The hygroscopicity of NaI(Tl) crystal makes the construction of crystal detectors in these experiments challenging and requires a tight encapsulation to prevent from air contact. More importantly, in a low radioactivity measurement, identification of external radiations and surface contamination is crucial to characterize the origin of total crystal radioactivities. Studies for NaI(Tl) crystal encapsulation with active organic scintillator vetoes have been performed to mitigate the above-mentioned issues simultaneously. A bare crystal is directly coupled with liquid and plastic scintillators to tag external radiations that penetrate from the outer part of the crystal. We report the pulse shape discrimination for organic scintillator pulses from those of the crystal scintillator in a single detector setup which makes external gammas identifiable and long-term stability tests of the detector setup.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Search for a Dark Matter-Induced Annual Modulation Signal in NaI(Tl) with the COSINE-100 Experiment

We present new constraints on the dark matter-induced annual modulation signal using 1.7 years, of COSINE-100 data with a total exposure of 97.7 kg$\cdot$years. The COSINE-100 experiment, consisting of 106 kg of NaI(Tl) target material, is designed to carry out a model-independent test of DAMA/LIBRA's claim of WIMP discovery by searching for the same annual modulation signal using the same NaI(Tl) target. The crystal data show a 2.7 cpd/kg/keV background rate on average in the 2--6 keV energy region of interest. Using a $χ$-squared minimization method we observe best fit values for modulation amplitude and phase of 0.0092$\pm$0.0067 cpd/kg/keV and 127.2$\pm$45 d, respectively.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

A search for solar axion induced signals with COSINE-100

We present results from a search for solar axions with the COSINE-100 experiment. We find no evidence of solar axion events from a data-set of 6,303.9 kg$\cdot$days exposure and set a 90\,\% confidence level upper limit on the axion-electron coupling, $g_{ae}$, at 1.70~$\times$~$10^{-11}$ for an axion mass less than 1\,keV/c$^2$. This limit excludes QCD axions heavier than 0.59\,eV/c$^2$ in the DFSZ model and 168.1\,eV/c$^2$ in the KSVZ model.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

COSINE-100 and DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 in WIMP effective models

Assuming a standard Maxwellian for the WIMP velocity distribution, we obtain the bounds from null WIMP search results of 59.5 days of COSINE-100 data on the DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 modulation effect within the context of the non-relativistic effective theory of WIMP-nucleus scattering. Here, we systematically assume that one of the effective operators allowed by Galilean invariance dominates in the effective Hamiltonian of a spin-1/2 dark matter (DM) particle. We find that, although DAMA/LIBRA and COSINE-100 use the same sodium-iodide target, the comparison of the two results still depends on the particle-physics model. This is mainly due to two reasons: i) the WIMP signal spectral shape; ii) the expected modulation fractions, when the upper bound on the time-averaged rate in COSINE-100 is converted into a constraint on the annual modulation component in DAMA/LIBRA. We find that the latter effect is the dominant one. For several effective operators the expected modulation fractions are larger than in the standard spin-independent or spin-dependent interaction cases. As a consequence, compatibility between the modulation effect observed in DAMA/LIBRA and the null result from COSINE-100 is still possible for several non-relativistic operators. At low WIMP masses such relatively high values of the modulation fractions arise because COSINE-100 is mainly sensitive to WIMP-sodium scattering events, due to the higher threshold compared to DAMA/LIBRA. A next COSINE analysis is expected to have a full sensitivity for the 5$σ$ region of DAMA/LIBRA.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Neutron and muon-induced background studies for the AMoRE double-beta decay experiment

AMoRE (Advanced Mo-based Rare process Experiment) is an experiment to search a neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{100}$Mo in molybdate crystals. The neutron and muon-induced backgrounds are crucial to obtain the zero-background level (<$10^{-5}$ counts/(keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$yr)) for the AMoRE-II experiment, which is the second phase of the AMoRE project, planned to run at YEMI underground laboratory. To evaluate the effects of neutron and muon-induced backgrounds, we performed Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations and studied a shielding strategy for the AMORE-II experiment. Neutron-induced backgrounds were also included in the study. In this paper, we estimated the background level in the presence of possible shielding structures, which meet the background requirement for the AMoRE-II experiment.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

First Results from the AMoRE-Pilot neutrinoless double beta decay experiment

The Advanced Molybdenum-based Rare process Experiment (AMoRE) aims to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$νββ$) of $^{100}$Mo with $\sim$100 kg of $^{100}$Mo-enriched molybdenum embedded in cryogenic detectors with a dual heat and light readout. At the current, pilot stage of the AMoRE project we employ six calcium molybdate crystals with a total mass of 1.9 kg, produced from $^{48}$Ca-depleted calcium and $^{100}$Mo-enriched molybdenum ($^{48\textrm{depl}}$Ca$^{100}$MoO$_4$). The simultaneous detection of heat(phonon) and scintillation (photon) signals is realized with high resolution metallic magnetic calorimeter sensors that operate at milli-Kelvin temperatures. This stage of the project is carried out in the Yangyang underground laboratory at a depth of 700 m. We report first results from the AMoRE-Pilot $0νββ$ search with a 111 kg$\cdot$d live exposure of $^{48\textrm{depl}}$Ca$^{100}$MoO$_4$ crystals. No evidence for $0νββ$ decay of $^{100}$Mo is found, and a upper limit is set for the half-life of 0$νββ$ of $^{100}$Mo of $T^{0ν}_{1/2} > 9.5\times10^{22}$ y at 90% C.L.. This limit corresponds to an effective Majorana neutrino mass limit in the range $\langle m_{ββ}\rangle\le(1.2-2.1)$ eV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

Search for WIMP-$^{129}$Xe inelastic scattering with particle identification in XMASS-I

A search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) was conducted with the single-phase liquid-xenon detector XMASS through inelastic scattering in which $^{129}$Xe nuclei were excited, using an exposure ($\rm 327\; kg \times 800.0 \; days$) 48 times larger than that of our previous study. The inelastic excitation sensitivity was improved by detailed evaluation of background, event classification based on scintillation timing that distinguished $γ$-rays and $β$-rays, and simultaneous fitting of the energy spectra of $γ$-like and $β$-like samples. No evidence of a WIMP signal was found. Thus, we set the upper limits of the inelastic channel cross section at 90\% confidence level, for example, $4.1\times 10^{-39} \;{\rm cm^2}$ for a $200\; {\rm GeV}/c^2$ WIMP. This result provides the most stringent limits on the SD WIMP-neutron interaction and is better by a factor of 7.7 at $200\;{\rm GeV}/c^2$ than the existing experimental limit.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

The First Direct Search for Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter with COSINE-100

A search for inelastic boosted dark matter (iBDM) using the COSINE-100 detector with 59.5 days of data is presented. This relativistic dark matter is theorized to interact with the target material through inelastic scattering with electrons, creating a heavier state that subsequently produces standard model particles, such as an electron-positron pair. In this study, we search for this electron-positron pair in coincidence with the initially scattered electron as a signature for an iBDM interaction. No excess over the predicted background event rate is observed. Therefore, we present limits on iBDM interactions under various hypotheses, one of which allows us to explore an area of the experimental search for iBDM using a terrestrial detector.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Development of low radioactivity photomultiplier tubes for the XMASS-I detector

XMASS-I is a single-phase liquid xenon detector whose purpose is direct detection of dark matter. To achieve the low background requirements necessary in the detector, a new model of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), R10789, with a hexagonal window was developed based on the R8778 PMT used in the XMASS prototype detector. We screened the numerous component materials for their radioactivity. During development, the largest contributions to the reduction of radioactivity came from the stem and the dynode support. The glass stem was exchanged to the Kovar alloy one and the ceramic support were changed to the quartz one. R10789 is the first model of Hamamatsu Photonics K. K. that adopted these materials for low background purposes and provided a groundbreaking step for further reductions of radioactivity in PMTs. Measurements with germanium detectors showed 1.2$\pm$0.3 mBq/PMT of $^{226}$Ra, less than 0.78 mBq/PMT of $^{228}$Ra, 9.1$\pm$2.2 mBq/PMT of $^{40}$K, and 2.8$\pm$0.2 mBq/PMT of $^{60}$Co. In this paper, the radioactive details of the developed R10789 are described together with our screening methods and the components of the PMT.

physics.ins-det↗