Low-mass WIMP searches with the EDELWEISS experiment
Résumé
The EDELWEISS experiment is a direct search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) dark matter using an array of twenty-four 860 g cryogenic germanium detectors equipped with a full charge and thermal signal readout. The experiment is located in the ultra-low radioactivity environment of the Modane underground laboratory in the Frejus tunnel. WIMP limits, background rejection factors and measurements of cosmogenic activation recorded in long exposures are used to assess the performance of the third generation of EDELWEISS detectors in view of the search for WIMPs in the mass range from 1 to 20 GeV/c2. The developments in progress to pursue this goal in the coming years are also presented.