Collaborative Proposal: Continuation of th XENON Dark Matter Project: Construction and Underground Operation of an Upgraded XENON100 Detector

合作提案：XENON 暗物质项目的延续：升级版 XENON100 探测器的建造和地下运行

• 批准号: 0904220
• 负责人: Elena Aprile
• 金额: $ 242.38万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0904220&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Proposal; Continuation; th; XENON

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project addresses the question of the nature of dark matter in the Universe with an experimental search for Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs) using two-phase xenon detectors. This group is currently operating at the 100 kg mass scale with the XENON100 experiment which has replaced the XENON10 prototype in the same shield and location at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. The worldwide race towards direct dark matter detection has been dramatically accelerated by the fast evolution of detectors based on noble liquids. They have shifted the scale of target mass from a few to tens of kilograms, while reducing the overall gamma/beta background to less than 0.001 events/kg/keV/day, much lower than scintillator and cryogenic bolometer detectors. Despite being only a prototype, XENON10 has shown the potential of two-phase Xe detectors for dark matter searches, bringing the XENON program to the forefront of the field. This award will provide funds to continue the XENON program for 2 more years to complete the dark matter search with the current XENON100 detector within 2009, and to realize an upgraded detector by early 2010 in the same shield and location. Additionally, XENON100 has a robust possibility to address questions related to the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation signature, shedding new light on this controversial result. The broader impact of the XENON science program addresses questions about the fundamental properties of the Universe and has all the ingredients to captivate the interest and imagination of students and the general public alike. Technical-related work can impact society in a number of ways: liquid xenon imaging detectors and related technologies find applications in several fields outside particle astrophysics, including national security and medical imaging research.

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。这个项目通过使用两相氙气探测器对弱相互作用大质量粒子(WIMP)进行实验研究，解决了宇宙中暗物质的本质问题。该小组目前正在以100公斤的质量规模进行XENON100实验，该实验已经在Gran Sasso地下实验室的相同屏蔽和位置取代了XENON10原型。基于稀有液体的探测器的快速发展，大大加速了世界范围内直接探测暗物质的竞赛。他们将目标质量的范围从几公斤转移到几十公斤，同时将总体伽马/贝塔本底降低到不到0.001个事件/公斤/kev/天，远远低于闪烁体和低温测辐射热计探测器。尽管XENON10只是一个原型，但它已经展示了两相Xe探测器在暗物质搜索方面的潜力，将氙气计划带入了该领域的前沿。这项奖励将提供资金，将氙气计划再继续两年，以便在2009年内用目前的XENON100探测器完成暗物质搜索，并在2010年初实现相同屏蔽和位置的升级探测器。此外，XENON100具有解决与DAMA/Libra年度调制签名相关的问题的强大可能性，为这一有争议的结果带来了新的曙光。氙气科学计划的更广泛的影响解决了关于宇宙基本属性的问题，并具备了吸引学生和普通公众的兴趣和想象力的所有成分。与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和相关技术在粒子天体物理学以外的几个领域得到应用，包括国家安全和医学成像研究。