First Limits on Light Dark Matter Interactions in a Low Threshold Two Channel Athermal Phonon Detector from the TESSERACT Collaboration

Abstract

We present results of a search for spin-independent dark matter-nucleon interactions in a 1 cm$^2$ by 1 mm thick (0.233 gram) high-resolution silicon athermal phonon detector operated above ground. For interactions in the substrate, this detector achieves a r.m.s. baseline energy resolution of 361.5 $\pm$ 0.4 MeV/$c^2$, the best for any athermal phonon detector to date. With an exposure of 0.233g $\times$ 12 hours, we place the most stringent constraints on dark matter masses between 44 and 87 MeV/$c^2$, with the lowest unexplored cross section of 4 $\times 10^{-32}$ cm$^2$ at 87 MeV/$c^2$. We employ a conservative salting technique to reach the lowest dark matter mass ever probed via direct detection experiment. This constraint is enabled by two-channel rejection of low-energy backgrounds that are coupled to individual sensors.