A Dark Matter Search with MALBEK

Understand

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is an array of natural and enriched high purity germanium detectors that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76-Ge and perform a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with masses below 10 GeV.

• As part of the MAJORANA research and development efforts, we have deployed a modified, low-background broad energy germanium detector at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility.
• With its sub-keV energy threshold, this detector is sensitive to potential non-Standard Model physics, including interactions with WIMPs.
• We discuss the backgrounds present in the WIMP region of interest and explore the impact of slow surface event contamination when searching for a WIMP signal.