Construction of the LUX Dark Matter Experiment at the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory

桑福德地下科学与工程实验室 LUX 暗物质实验的建设

• 批准号: 0750671
• 负责人: Thomas Shutt
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Case Western Reserve University
• 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: 2008-07-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0750671&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Construction; LUX; Dark; Matter; Experiment

PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0750671INSTITUTION: Case Western ReserveNSF PROGRAM: PHY ? UNDERGROUND PHYSICSPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Shutt, Thomas A.TITLE: Construction of the LUX Dark Matter Experiment at the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory ABSTRACTA wealth of observations, dating back 70 years, show that the universe is composed of 96% invisible matter and energy. The nature of these missing components is one of the most fundamental mysteries in physics. The leading candidate for the invisible ?dark matter? is a subatomic particle left over from the big bang known as the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). Such particles are also predicted by supersymmetry, a favored class of new particle models. Although they only very rarely interact with conventional matter, they should be detectable by sufficiently sensitive detectors on Earth, through their direct interaction with, and the ensuing recoil of, nuclei in a target material. The primary challenge in detecting them is reducing natural and cosmogenic radioactivity by up to 10 orders of magnitude.The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) collaboration has assembled a team with the breadth and depth of experience to construct and deploy a large two-phase liquid xenon dark matter detector and water shield, to be installed at a deep underground laboratory (Homestake). LUX is composed of groups that bring essential experience in background rejection and rare event detection.This award will provide funds to design, construct and deploy a 300 kg active mass two-phase Xe experiment that will extend current dark matter sensitivity two orders of magnitude beyond current best limits, to an event rate better than ~1 event/100 kg/month. A large detector is required to not only set such a sensitivity limit, but also to accumulate WIMP statistics in a reasonable time if a signal is detected. The LUX program will also help develop the technologies required for 1?10 ton dark matter detectors.Among the Broader Impacts of this research: the detection of particle dark matter would transform and extend world activities in the particle physics and astronomical communities. Moreover, the techniques themselves can be further scaled up and applied to other fundamental experiments such as double beta decay and solar neutrinos. As with other particle detection techniques, new methods of position sensitivity and particle discrimination may give rise to new medical diagnostic techniques, or applications to Homeland Security and nuclear control.

提案编号：0750671机构：凯斯西储NSF认证：物理？标题：桑福德地下科学与工程实验室的勒克斯暗物质实验的建设 70年前的大量观测表明，宇宙96%是由不可见的物质和能量组成的。这些缺失成分的性质是物理学中最基本的谜团之一。隐形人的主要候选人？暗物质是一种从大爆炸中遗留下来的亚原子粒子，被称为弱相互作用大质量粒子（WIMP）。这种粒子也可以用超对称性来预测，超对称性是一种受欢迎的新粒子模型。尽管它们很少与常规物质相互作用，但通过它们与目标材料中的原子核的直接相互作用以及随之而来的反冲，它们应该可以被地球上足够灵敏的探测器检测到。探测它们的主要挑战是将自然和宇宙成因的放射性减少多达10个数量级。大型地下氙（LUX）合作组织组建了一个具有广泛和深度经验的团队，以建造和部署大型两相液体氙暗物质探测器和防水罩，将安装在深层地下实验室（Homestake）。LUX由在背景抑制和稀有事件探测方面具有重要经验的团队组成，该奖项将为设计、建造和部署一个300公斤有效质量的两阶段探测器实验提供资金，该实验将把目前的暗物质灵敏度提高两个数量级，超过目前的最佳极限，使事件率优于约1个事件/100公斤/月。需要大型检测器不仅设置这样的灵敏度限制，而且如果检测到信号，则在合理的时间内累积WIMP统计。LUX计划还将帮助开发1？10吨重的暗物质探测器。在这项研究的更广泛影响中：粒子暗物质的探测将改变和扩展粒子物理和天文学界的世界活动。此外，这些技术本身可以进一步扩大规模，并应用于其他基础实验，如双β衰变和太阳中微子。与其他粒子探测技术一样，位置灵敏度和粒子识别的新方法可能会产生新的医疗诊断技术，或应用于国土安全和核控制。