Search for low mass dark matter particles with the cresst experiment

It has been proven by several astronomical observations that dark matter exists, but no particle candidates have been observed yet. The CRESST experiment aims to directly detect dark matter particles elastically scattering off nuclei in CaWO4 crystals which are operated at mK temperatures. With nuclear recoil energy thresholds as low as 0.3 keV [2] and 0.6 keV [3], for the detector modules LISE and TUM40, respectively, CRESST is ideally suited for the detection of low-mass dark matter particles [5]. Additionally, the radiopurity of the crystals is another important factor for the detector performance. For a detailed understanding of the detector backgrounds, we simulate the radioactive contaminations of the TUM40 detector module with Geant4. The outcome of this simulation will be vital for the CRESST-III experiment. In this contribution, we discuss our results of the search for dark matter and dark photons achieved with the detector module Lise of CRESST-II. We will discuss the status of CRESST-III Phase 1 which started taking data in 2016.