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Background of the BULLKID detector array operated with a moderate shield on the surface

D. Delicato1,2,3,*, A. Acevedo-Rentería4, M. Folcarelli1,2, G. Del Castello2, M. Cappelli1,2, L. E. Ardila-Perez5, L. Bandiera6, C. Bonomo1,2, M. Calvo3 et al.

R. Caravita7, F. Carillo8, F. Cescato6,9, U. Chowdhury3, D. A. Crovo5, A. Cruciani2, A. D’Addabbo10, M. De Lucia11,8, M. del Gallo Roccagiovine1,2, F. Ferraro10, S. Fu10, R. Gartmann5, M. Giammei1,2,†, M. Grassi8, V. Guidi6,9, D. L. Helis10, T. Lari11,8, L. Malagutti6, A. Mazzolari6,9, A. Monfardini3, T. Muscheid5, D. Nicolò11,8, F. Paolucci11,8, D. Pasciuto2, L. Pesce1,2, C. Puglia8, D. Quaranta1,2, C. M. A. Roda11,8, S. Roddaro11,8, M. Romagnoni6, G. Signorelli11,8, F. Simon5, A. Tartari8, E. Vázquez-Jáuregui4, M. Vignati1,2, and K. Zhao10,12

  • *Contact author: daniele.delicato@neel.cnrs.fr
  • †Present address: Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Dipartimento di Fisica, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy.
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 092005 – Published 6 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/73pl-ywzw

Abstract

We present the operation with moderate radiation shield in a surface laboratory of BULky and Low-threshold Kinetic Inductance Detector) (BULLKID), a cryogenic detector for searches of light dark matter or coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. The detector consists of an array of 60 cubic silicon particle absorbers of 0.34 g each, sensed by cryogenic kinetic inductance detectors. The analysis presented focuses on data from 15 elements of the array, with two central units used to evaluate the background and with their surrounding elements used as veto. The low energy spectrum resulting from an exposure of 290 hours to ambient backgrounds, acquired with the use of external and internal radiation shields, is compatible with the simulations at the level of (6.8±0.4  stat.±0.1  syst.)×104 counts / keV kg days from 2 keV down to an energy of 600 eV. The region between 225 eV and 600 eV shows a rise in background in disagreement with the simulations, while not sharing some of the key traits of the low energy excess observed in other cryogenic experiments. The high energy spectrum shape is in overall agreement with the simulations and displays the typical particle-induced x-ray emission of the surrounding lead.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 092005– Published 6 November, 2026
  • Received 14 May 2026
  • Accepted 11 September 2026
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