Reduction of Backgrounds for WIMP Dark Matter

减少 WIMP 暗物质的背景

• 批准号: 1546843
• 负责人: Richard Schnee
• 金额: $ 18.63万
• 依托单位: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1546843&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Reduction; Backgrounds; WIMP; Dark; Matter

Observations indicate that 80% of the matter in the Universe is not made of normal atoms, but must be otherwise undetected elementary "dark matter" particles that don't emit or absorb light. Remarkably, particle physics theories proposed for other reasons predict the existence of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with just the right properties to be this dark matter. If WIMPs are the dark matter, they may be detectable when they scatter in Earth-based detectors.This award will provide funding for this Syracuse group to collaborate on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (now SuperCDMS) that has a track record as one of the world's most sensitive. The PI will lead his group to achieve better rejection of surface interactions and identify neutrons that multiply scatter within a detector, aided by detailed simulations of the detector response. The group will help develop and construct a detector to veto events caused by neutrons and measure the expected neutron background in SuperCDMS. The group will take part in SuperCDMS detector testing, including making key contributions to a unique deep facility, demonstrating the rejection capabilities of new detectors and providing critical feedback for detector fabrication and development. The long-term activities include additional cryogenic detector research, focusing on technologies that allow easier manufacturing and the possibility of a single cost-effective experiment to detect both dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay.Broader Impacts: Technological development of phonon-mediated detectors has widespread applications in astronomy and physics. The project will help train undergraduates, graduates, and postdocs in a multidisciplinary field using techniques at the leading edge of measurement technologies with applications in areas of societal interest.

观察结果表明，宇宙中80％的物质不是由正常原子制成的，但必须是未发现的基本“暗物质”颗粒，这些颗粒不会发出或吸收光。值得注意的是，出于其他原因提出的粒子物理学理论预测了弱相互作用的质量颗粒（WIMP）的存在，而正确的特性则是这种暗物质。如果Wimps是暗物质，则可以在基于地球的探测器中散布时可检测到它们。该奖项将为这个锡拉丘兹集团提供资金，以合作进行低温暗物质搜索（现在是SuperCDMS），该搜索具有往绩，这是世界上最敏感的。 PI将带领他的小组更好地排斥表面相互作用，并确定中子会在检测器响应的详细模拟中辅助散射在检测器中。该小组将有助于开发和构建一个检测器，以否决由中子引起的否决事件，并测量超级速度中的预期中子背景。该小组将参加SuperCDMS检测器测试，包括对独特的深层设施做出关键贡献，证明了新探测器的拒绝能力，并为检测器制造和开发提供了重要的反馈。长期活动包括额外的低温探测器研究，重点是使制造更容易制造的技术以及单个具有成本效益的实验的可能性，以检测暗物质和中微子双β衰变。Boader的影响：枪声介导的探测器的技术开发在天文学和物理学中广泛应用。该项目将帮助培训多学科领域的本科生，毕业生和博士后，并使用在社会兴趣领域应用的测量技术领先地位的技术。