Background studies for the EDELWEISS dark matter experiment

The EDELWEISS-II collaboration has completed a direct search for WIMP dark matter using cryogenic Ge detectors (400 g each) and 384 kg × days of effective exposure. A cross-section of 4.4 × 10 - 8 pb is excluded at 90% C. L. for a WIMP mass of 85 GeV. The next phase, EDELWEISS-III, aims to probe spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections down to a few × 10 - 9 pb. We present here the study of gamma and neutron background coming from radioactive decays in the set-up and shielding materials. We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations for the completed EDELWEISS-II setup with GEANT4 and normalised the expected background rates to the measured radioactivity levels (or their upper limits) of all materials and components. The expected gamma-ray event rate in EDELWEISS-II at 20–200 keV agrees with the observed rate of 82 events/kg/day within the uncertainties in the measured concentrations. The calculated neutron rate from radioactivity of 1.0–3.1 events (90% C. L.) at 20–200 keV in the EDELWEISS-II data together with the expected upper limit on the misidentified gamma-ray events ( ⩽ 0.9 ), surface betas ( ⩽ 0.3 ), and muon-induced neutrons ( ⩽ 0.7 ), do not contradict five observed events in nuclear recoil band. We have then extended the simulation framework to the EDELWEISS-III configuration with 800 g crystals, better material purity and additional neutron shielding inside the cryostat. The gamma-ray and neutron backgrounds in 24 kg fiducial mass of EDELWEISS-III have been calculated as 14–44 events/kg/day and 0.7–1.4 events per year, respectively. The results of the background studies performed in the present work have helped to select better purity components and improve shielding in EDELWEISS-III to further reduce the expected rate of background events in the next phase of the experiment.