Collaborative Proposal: The XENON Dark Matter Project: Construction and Underground Operation of a 100 kg Detector

建议编号：0705337INSTUTION：哥伦比亚大学首席研究员：Aprile，ElenaPROPOSAL编号：0705326 INSTUTION：威廉·马什·赖斯大学首席研究员：奥伯拉克，UweNSF项目：PHY？暗物质的发现对宇宙学、天体物理学和粒子物理学具有重要意义。尽管面临着极端的挑战，寻找据信构成暗物质的弱相互作用大质量粒子(WIMP)的工作仍在通过加速器、太空和地下实验继续进行。归根结底，只有天体物理观测才能确定WIMP是否存在于自然界，但在实验室实验中直接检测WIMP-核散射的重要性得到了很好的认识。美国在直接探测方面处于世界领先地位；然而，目标质量大幅增加、灵敏度更高的实验以及复杂的背景拒绝方案是未来进步和发现的关键。该奖项支持哥伦比亚大学和赖斯大学继续实施氙暗物质计划，建造了一个100公斤的基准质量探测器(XENON100)。灵敏度目标为2×10~(-45)cm~(-2)。这是通过同时探测纯液体氙气中的电离和闪烁信号所提供的背景辨别来实现的。XENON100是建立在XENON10原型建立的设计和技术基础上的，Xe总质量增加了约10倍。XENON100是一个可以以最小的风险建立的实验，到2009年，大型强子对撞机将搜索超对称暗物质，给出第一批物理结果。在这项工作的更广泛的影响中，氙气科学具有吸引学生和普通公众的兴趣和想象力的所有成分。与氙气技术相关的工作可以在许多方面影响社会。液体氙气成像探测器技术是粒子天体物理以外的几个领域应用的首选，包括国家安全和医学成像研究。

PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0705337INSTITUTION: Columbia University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Aprile, ElenaPROPOSAL NUMBER: 0705326INSTITUTION: William Marsh Rice University PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Oberlack, UweNSF PROGRAM: PHY ? UNDERGROUND PHYSICSTITLE: Collaborative Proposal: The XENON Dark Matter Project: Construction and Underground Operation of a 100 kg Detector ABSTRACTThe discovery of dark matter is of fundamental importance to cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics. Despite the extreme challenges, the search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) believed to constitute the dark matter, continues with accelerator, space and underground based experiments. Ultimately, only astrophysical observations can determine whether WIMPs exist in nature, but the importance of direct detection of WIMP-nucleus scattering in laboratory experiments is well recognized. The US is in a world-leading position in direct detection; however, better-sensitivity experiments with sizeable increase in target mass and sophisticated background rejection schemes are key to future progress and discovery. This award provides support to the Columbia and Rice groups for their continuation of the XENON Dark Matter Program, with the construction of a 100 kg fiducial mass detector (XENON100). The sensitivity goal is 2x10^45 cm^2. This is achieved through background discrimination provided by the simultaneous detection of ionization and scintillation signals in pure liquid xenon. XENON100 is built on the design and technology established with the XENON10 prototype, with a factor of ~10 increase in total Xe mass. XENON100 is an experiment that can be built with minimum risk, giving first physics results by 2009, when the LHC will be searching for Supersymmetric dark matter. Among the Broader Impacts of this work, the XENON science has all the ingredients to captivate the interest and imagination of students and the general public alike. XENON technical-related work can impact society in a number of ways. The liquid xenon imaging detector technology is a prime candidate for applications in several fields outside particle astrophysics, including national security and medical imaging research.