First direct limits on lightly ionizing particles with electric charge less than e/6

R Agnese; A J Anderson; D Balakishiyeva; R Basu Thakur; D A Bauer; J Billard; A Borgland; M A Bowles; D Brandt; P L Brink; R Bunker; B Cabrera; D O Caldwell; D G Cerdeno; H Chagani; Y Chen; J Cooley; B Cornell; C H Crewdson; P Cushman; M Daal; P C F Di Stefano; T Doughty; L Esteban; S Fallows; E Figueroa-Feliciano; G L Godfrey; S R Golwala; J Hall; H R Harris; S A Hertel; T Hofer; D Holmgren; L Hsu; M E Huber; A Jastram; O Kamaev; B Kara; M H Kelsey; A Kennedy; M Kiveni; K Koch; A Leder; B Loer; E Lopez Asamar; R Mahapatra; V Mandic; C Martinez; K A McCarthy; N Mirabolfathi; R A Moffatt; D C Moore; H Nelson; R H Nelson; R W Ogburn; K Page; W A Page; R Partridge; M Pepin; A Phipps; K Prasad; M Pyle; H Qiu; W Rau; P Redl; A Reisetter; Y Ricci; H E Rogers; T Saab; B Sadoulet; J Sander; K Schneck; R W Schnee; S Scorza; B Serfass; B Shank; D Speller; S Upadhyayula; A N Villano; B Welliver; D H Wright; S Yellin; J J Yen; B A Young; J Zhang; CDMS Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.111302

First direct limits on lightly ionizing particles with electric charge less than e/6

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Mar 20;114(11):111302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.111302. Epub 2015 Mar 18.

Authors

R Agnese¹, A J Anderson², D Balakishiyeva¹, R Basu Thakur^{3

4}, D A Bauer³, J Billard², A Borgland⁵, M A Bowles⁶, D Brandt⁵, P L Brink⁵, R Bunker^{6

7}, B Cabrera⁸, D O Caldwell⁹, D G Cerdeno^{10

11}, H Chagani¹², Y Chen⁶, J Cooley¹³, B Cornell¹⁴, C H Crewdson¹⁵, P Cushman¹², M Daal¹⁶, P C F Di Stefano¹⁵, T Doughty¹⁶, L Esteban¹⁰, S Fallows¹², E Figueroa-Feliciano², G L Godfrey⁵, S R Golwala¹⁴, J Hall¹⁷, H R Harris¹⁸, S A Hertel², T Hofer¹², D Holmgren³, L Hsu³, M E Huber¹⁹, A Jastram¹⁸, O Kamaev¹⁵, B Kara¹³, M H Kelsey⁵, A Kennedy¹², M Kiveni⁶, K Koch¹², A Leder², B Loer³, E Lopez Asamar¹⁰, R Mahapatra¹⁸, V Mandic¹², C Martinez¹⁵, K A McCarthy², N Mirabolfathi¹⁶, R A Moffatt⁸, D C Moore¹⁴, H Nelson⁹, R H Nelson¹⁴, R W Ogburn⁵, K Page¹⁵, W A Page²⁰, R Partridge⁵, M Pepin¹², A Phipps¹⁶, K Prasad¹⁸, M Pyle¹⁶, H Qiu¹³, W Rau¹⁵, P Redl⁸, A Reisetter²¹, Y Ricci¹⁵, H E Rogers¹², T Saab¹, B Sadoulet^{16

22}, J Sander^{18

23}, K Schneck⁵, R W Schnee^{6

7}, S Scorza^{13

24}, B Serfass¹⁶, B Shank⁸, D Speller¹⁶, S Upadhyayula¹⁸, A N Villano¹², B Welliver¹, D H Wright⁵, S Yellin⁸, J J Yen⁸, B A Young²⁵, J Zhang¹²; CDMS Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
² Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
³ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
⁵ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
⁹ Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
¹⁰ Departamento de Física Teórica and Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
¹¹ IPPP, Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
¹² School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
¹³ Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
¹⁴ Division of Physics, Mathematics, & Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁷ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
²⁰ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.
²¹ Department of Physics, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana 47722, USA.
²² Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²³ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
²⁴ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany.
²⁵ Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California 95053, USA.

PMID: 25839256
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.111302

Abstract

While the standard model of particle physics does not include free particles with fractional charge, experimental searches have not ruled out their existence. We report results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment that give the first direct-detection limits for cosmogenically produced relativistic particles with electric charge lower than e/6. A search for tracks in the six stacked detectors of each of two of the CDMS II towers finds no candidates, thereby excluding new parameter space for particles with electric charges between e/6 and e/200.