Search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles

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This award will provide funds to partially support a grant from the University of South Carolina to do research on heavy, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP's) that might constitute the missing mass in the halo of our galaxy. For this, they will employ cryogenic detectors that respond to the increase in temperature caused by the energy deposition from nuclear recoil induced by collisions with the heavy particles. The first phase of the research will be the construction of an ultralow radioactive background liquid helium-4 cryostat and the development of a superconducting granular detector. The detector will consist of large arrays of superconducting sensors sensitive to the weakly interacting particles. These developments will provide the feasibility study of a new generation of detection techniques for weakly interacting particles in general, e.g. solar neutrinos. This project will be a collaborative effort between the University of South Carolina, the University of Maryland, the University of British Columbia and Applied Research Corporation.