A large body of scientific evidence suggests that most of the matter in the universe is in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) whose properties are largely unknown. Since the halo of the Milky Way galaxy appears to be mostly dark matter, the possibility of direct detection in the laboratory exists via observation of WIMP collisions with normal atoms.
This award will provide funds to develop, construct and operate a new type of discriminating WIMP detector based on high pressure gaseous xenon (HPXe) with the primary aim being to ascertain its viability for a future large-scale DUSEL experiment. Recent measurements by this group along with theoretical considerations suggest that nuclear recoil discrimination may be superior in HPXe compared to liquid phase xenon. An important component of the proposed work will be to determine if this is the case in a practical detector.
As part of the Broader Impacts, the development of a new instrument to detect subatomic particle interactions will impact the educations of the undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral associates connected with the project. Students will work on all phases including design, fabrication, assembly, data acquisition, and analysis. The final product may also have applications in other fields where radiation detection is employed.
