TITLE:
Ultra Low Energy Results and Their Impact to Dark Matter and Low Energy Neutrino Physics
AUTHORS:
E. Bougamont, P. Colas, J. Derre, I. Giomataris, G. Gerbier, M. Gros, P. Magnier, X. F. Navick, P. Salin, I. Savvidis, G. Tsiledakis, J. D. Vergados
KEYWORDS:
Low Energy Neutrino; Dark Matter; Spherical Detector
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Modern Physics,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
4,
2012
ABSTRACT: We present ultra low energy results taken with the novel Spherical Proportional Counter. The energy threshold has been pushed down to about 25 eV and single electrons are clearly collected and detected. To reach such a performance two low energy calibration systems have been successfully developed: a pulsed UV lamp extracting photoelectrons from the inner surface of the detector and various radioactive sources allowing low energy peaks through fluorescence processes. The bench mark result is the observation of a well resolved peak at 270 eV due to carbon fluorescence, which is a unique performance for such large massive detector. It opens up a new window in dark matter and low energy neutrino searches and it may allow the detection of neutrinos from a nuclear reactor or from supernova via neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering.