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

T. K. Bui1, C. L. Chang2,3,4, Y.-Y. Chang5, L. Chaplinsky6, C. W. Fink5,7, M. Garcia-Sciveres8,1, W. Guo9,10, S. A. Hertel6, L. Juigne11 et al. (TESSERACT Collaboration)

L. Juigne11, A. R. L. Kavner11, X. Li8,*, J. Lin5,8, M. Lisovenko2, R. Mahapatra12, W. Matava5, D. N. McKinsey5,8, V. Novati13, P. K. Patel6, B. Penning11, H. D. Pinckney6, M. Platt12, M. Pyle5, Y. Qi9,10, M. Reed5, G. R. C. Rischbieter14, R. K. Romani5,†, B. Sadoulet5, B. Serfass5, P. Sorensen8, B. Suerfu1, A. Suzuki8, V. Velan8,‡, G. Wang2, Y. Wang5, S. L. Watkins5, M. R. Williams8,§, J. K. Wuko6, T. Aramaki15, P. Cushman16, N. N. Gite5, A. Gupta5, M. E. Huber17,18, N. A. Kurinsky19, B. von Krosigk20,21, J. S. Mammo22, A. J. Mayer23, J. Nelson16, S. M. Oser23,24, L. Pandey22, A. Pradeep19, W. Rau23,25, and T. Saab26 (TESSERACT Collaboration)

  • 1International Center for Quantum-field Measurement Systems for Studies of the Universe and Particles (QUP, WPI), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Oho 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
  • 2Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA
  • 3Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 4Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 5University of California Berkeley, Department of Physics, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 6University of Massachusetts, Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Department of Physics, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9337, USA
  • 7Now at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 8Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 9Department of Mechanical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA
  • 10National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA
  • 11University of Zurich, Department of Physics, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
  • 12Texas A&M University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College Station, Texas 77843-4242, USA
  • 13University of Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP*, LPSC-IN2P3, 38000 Grenoble, France
  • 14University of Michigan, Randall Laboratory of Physics, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1040, USA
  • 15Department of Physics, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
  • 16School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
  • 17Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA
  • 18Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA
  • 19SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
  • 20Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 21Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 22Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA
  • 23TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada
  • 24Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada
  • 25Department of Physics, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
  • 26Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA

  • *Contact author: xinranli@lbl.gov
  • †Contact author: rkromani@berkeley.edu
  • ‡Contact author: vvelan@lbl.gov
  • §Contact author: michaelwilliams@lbl.gov
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 161002 – Published 15 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hsrl-crvf

Abstract

We present results of a search for spin-independent dark matter-nucleus interactions in a 1  cm2 by 1 mm thick (0.233 g) high-resolution silicon athermal phonon detector operated above ground. For interactions in the substrate, this detector achieves an rms baseline energy resolution of 361.5(4)  meV (statistical error), the best for any athermal phonon detector to date. With an exposure of 0.233  g×12 hours, we place the most stringent constraints on dark matter masses between 44 and 87  MeV/c2, with the lowest unexplored cross section of 4×10−32  cm2 at 87  MeV/c2. 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.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 161002– Published 15 October, 2025
  • Received 1 April 2025
  • Accepted 18 September 2025
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