DUSEL R&D: New WIMP Detector Technique Based on High Pressure Xenon Gas

杜塞尔R

• 批准号: 0810281
• 负责人: James White
• 金额: $ 17万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-07-15 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0810281&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DUSEL; R& New; WIMP; Detector

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.

大量的科学证据表明，宇宙中的大多数物质都是以弱相互作用的巨大颗粒（WIMP）的形式，其特性在很大程度上是未知的。由于银河系的光环似乎主要是暗物质，因此实验室直接检测的可能性是通过观察到与正常原子的wimp碰撞来存在的。该奖项将为基于高压气态氙（HPXE）开发，构建和运营一种新型的歧视WIMP探测器的资金，其主要目的是确定其对未来大规模Dusel实验的可行性。该组的最新测量以及理论上的考虑表明，与液相氙气相比，HPXE中的核反冲区分可能更高。拟议工作的重要组成部分是确定在实际检测器中是否是这种情况。作为更广泛影响的一部分，开发一种检测亚原子粒子相互作用的新工具将影响与该项目相关的本科生和研究生和研究生的教育。学生将在所有阶段工作，包括设计，制造，组装，数据获取和分析。最终产品还可以在采用辐射检测的其他领域中应用。