Search for dark matter with EDELWEISS-III using a multidimensional maximum likelihood method

The EDELWEISS experiment is designed to detect the elastic scattering of a WIMP from the galactic dark matter halo in an array of detectors. This thesis addresses the search for low mass WIMPs by analysing EDELWEISS-III data with a multidimensional maximum likelihood method. For individual detectors as well as their combination, an upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section was derived, ruling out the existing claims of potential low mass WIMP signals by various other experiments.