OxRop : data analysis software for CRESST-II

• Main Author: Tolhurst, Adam James Barnaby
• Published: University of Oxford 2007
• Subjects: 502.85
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491756

Dark matter forms the dominant contribution to the matter density of the universe, and a host of experiments aim to detect the favoured dark matter e candidate, the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). Currently operating i experiments, such as CRESST-II (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers), have not yet detected WIMPs. The drive to increase sensitivity has inspired the design of tonne scale experiments with thousands of detector channels. OxRop is a new software framework built for the analysis of data from one such next generation WIMP search experiment, EURECA, and has been designed to accommodate the vast increase in data volume anticipated. An exposition of OxRop's design and implementation is given, along with the mathematical foundations of key analysis tools. To verify OxRop's capabilities, a re-analysis of CRESST data has been performed, '~. - j confirming the previously published discovery of the alpha decay of tungsten- 180. Measurements of the half life and Qvalue of the decay, 1.5 ±0.4 x 1018. years and 2514 ±1 keY respectively, are consistent with those published. OXRop has also been applied to recent data from the upgraded CRESST-II experiment. A new upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin independent cross section with a minimum of 6 x 10-7 pb has been found.