Noble Travails: Noble Liquid Detectors Searching for Particle Dark Matter
Richard Gaitskell
Brown University
Particle dark matter is thought to be the overwhelming majority of the
matter in the Universe. Its gravitational contribution overwhelms that
from the ordinary matter that we, the earth and the stars, are composed
of. However, we still have no convincing direct evidence for the existence
of particle dark matter. This may soon change...
I will discuss some of the noble liquid target experiments that are
providing competitive sensitivities in the race for the direct detection
of particle dark matter. Theoretical estimates, based on supersymmetric
models predict dark matter interaction rates from the best sensitivity of
existing direct detection experiments of ~1 evts/kg/month, down to rates
of ~1 evts/tonne/yr, and below this. Current and future noble liquid
experiments for dark matter searches, range in scale from 10's kg to 10
tonnes, and are designed to rise to this challenge. The new liquid xenon
detector, LUX, which will be operated underground this year, will be 20
times more sensitive than current best search experiments.
Date: | Wednesday, 23 May 2012 |
Time: | 14:30 |
Where: | McGill University |
| Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, R.E. Bell Conference Room (room 103) |
Contact: | Robert Rutledge |
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