Additional Comments on "New Limits on Spin-Independent Couplings of Low-Mass WIMP Dark Matter with a Germanium Detector at a Threshold of 200 eV"

In a previous comment (arXiv:0806.1341v1) we criticized purely technical aspects of arXiv:0712.1645 but pointed out that many other inconsistencies were readily apparent. In view of the imminent posting of another version of arXiv:0712.1645, still containing these issues, we would like to offer with this additional note a critical guide to the methodology followed by the TEXONO collaboration, in their effort to extract dark matter limits from a spectral region completely dominated by electronic noise. We find that systematics have been neglected through a combination of erroneous assumptions and failure to explore all of their possible sources.

Duke Scholars

Author Phillip S. Barbeau Physics