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New Experiments With Spheres-Gas (NEWS-G) is a direct dark matter detection experiment using SphericalProportional Counters (SPCs) with light noble gases to search for low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). We report the results from the first physics run taken at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) with SEDINE, a 60 cm diameter prototype SPC operated with a mixture of Ne + CH 4 (0.7 %) at 3.1 bars for a total exposure of 9.7 kg · days. New constraints are set on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-section in the sub-GeV/c 2 mass region. We exclude cross-sections above 4.4 × 10 −37 cm 2 at 90 % confidence level (C.L.) for a 0.5 GeV/c 2 WIMP. The competitive results obtained with SEDINE are promising for the next phase of the NEWS-G experiment: a 140 cm diameter SPC to be installed at SNOLAB by summer 2018.

A : We present the results of measurements demonstrating the efficiency of the EDELWEISS-III array of cryogenic germanium detectors for direct dark matter searches. The experimental setup and the FID (Fully Inter-Digitized) detector array is described, as well as the efficiency of the double measurement of heat and ionization signals in background rejection. For the whole set of 24 FID detectors used for coincidence studies, the baseline resolutions for the fiducial ionization energy are mainly below 0.7 keV ee (FHWM) whereas the baseline resolutions for heat energies are mainly below 1.5 keV ee (FWHM). The response to nuclear recoils as well as the very good discrimination capability of the FID design has been measured with an AmBe source. The surface βand α-decay rejection power of R surf < 4 × 10 −5 per α at 90% C.L. has been determined with a 210 Pb source, the rejection of bulk γ-ray events has been demonstrated using γ-calibrations with 133 Ba sources leading to a value of R γ−mis−fid < 2.5 × 10 −6 at 90% C.L.. The current levels of natural radioactivity measured in the detector array are shown as the rate of single γ background. The fiducial volume fraction of the FID detectors has been measured to a weighted average value of (74.6 ± 0.4)% using the cosmogenic activation of the 65 Zn and 68,71 Ge isotopes. The stability and uniformity of the detector response is also discussed. The achieved resolutions, thresholds and background levels of the upgraded EDELWEISS-III detectors in their setup are thus well suited to the direct search of WIMP dark matter over a large mass range.

Abstract. We present new constraints on the couplings of axions and more generic axionlike particles using data from the EDELWEISS-II experiment. The EDELWEISS experiment, located at the Underground Laboratory of Modane, primarily aims at the direct detection of WIMPs using germanium bolometers. It is also sensitive to the low-energy electron recoils that would be induced by solar or dark matter axions. Using a total exposure of up to 448 kg.d, we searched for axion-induced electron recoils down to 2.5 keV within four scenarios involving different hypotheses on the origin and couplings of axions. We set a 95 % CL limit on the coupling to photons g Aγ < 2.13 × 10 −9 GeV −1 in a mass range not fully covered by axion helioscopes. We also constrain the coupling to electrons, g Ae < 2.56 × 10 −11 , similar to the more indirect solar neutrino bound. Finally we place a limit on g Ae × g eff AN < 4.70 × 10 −17 , where g eff AN is the effective axion-nucleon coupling for 57 Fe. Combining these results we fully exclude the mass range 0.91 eV < m A < 80 keV for DFSZ axions and 5.73 eV < m A < 40 keV for KSVZ axions.