Backgrounds at Low Energies in CUORE*

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a tonne-scale array of 988 TeO₂ cryogenic calorimeters operated at around 10 mK and is located at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory. The primary physics goal of CUORE is the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0𝜈𝛽𝛽) in ¹³⁰Te. The detector is also capable of beyond Standard Model searches in a low-energy region below 200 keV, including searches for solar axions, fractionally charged particles, and WIMPs. To be sensitive to the detection of these rare events requires knowledge of radioactive backgrounds at low energies. CUORE uses a data-driven background model developed from a Bayesian fit of Monte Carlo simulations to data to model the experiment’s radioactive backgrounds down to 200 keV. Extending the background model to lower energies would aid in searches for rare, low-energy physics. In this talk, I will discuss the physics capability of CUORE at energies below 200 keV and corresponding improvements on CUORE’s background model.