Limits on WIMP dark matter using scintillating CaWO4 cryogenic detectors with active background suppression

Abstract

We present first significant limits on WIMP dark matter by the phonon-light technique, where combined phonon and light signals from a scintillating cryogenic detector are used. Data from early 2004 with two 300 g CRESST-II prototype detector modules are presented, with a net exposure of 20.5 kg days. The modules consist of a CaWO4 scintillating ``target'' crystal and a smaller cryogenic light detector. The combination of phonon and light signals leads to a strong suppression of non-nuclear recoil backgrounds. Using this information to define an acceptance region for nuclear recoils we have 16 events from the two modules, corresponding to a rate for nuclear recoils between 12 and 40 keV of (0.87 +- 0.22) events/(kg day). This is compatible with the rate expected from neutron background, and most of these events lie in the region of the phonon-light plane anticipated for neutron-induced recoils. A particularly strong limit for WIMPs with coherent scattering results from selecting a region of the phonon-light plane corresponding to tungsten recoils, where the best module shows zero events.