Particle Astrophysics at Yale: The LUX Dark Matter Search

耶鲁大学的粒子天体物理学：LUX 暗物质搜索

• 批准号: 1003660
• 负责人: Daniel McKinsey
• 金额: $ 61.5万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2013-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1003660&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Particle; Astrophysics; Yale; LUX; Dark

This award provides funds for this Yale University group to contribute to the LUX-350 dark matter experiment. LUX-350 promises substantially improved sensitivity to the existence of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), a theoretically attractive explanation for the nature of the missing dark matter. LUX-350 is a two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon experiment, with a total liquid xenon (LXe) mass of 350 kg and a fiducial mass of 100 kg. The LUX-350 detector exploits a number of features of LXe to drive backgrounds down. The active detector volume permits the full reconstruction of event energy deposition and position. Crucially, the background rate is heavily suppressed in the fiducial volume due to the active shielding by the surrounding LXe, and decreases with increasing LXe mass. Integration of LUX-350 will take place at a newly renovated surface facility at SUSEL, the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory at Homestake before moving underground.On LUX-350, Yale is responsible for the xenon purification system, the 100 kV cathode high voltage system, slow control electronics, and radioactive source manipulators for detector calibration. The group has also developed a method of calibrating LXe detectors using Kr-83 atoms dissolved in the LXe, and performed a new measurement of the scintillation efficiency and charge yield for nuclear recoils in LXe. Broader Impact: Development of technology related to LXe will find use in the increasing number of experiments worldwide using noble liquids as detection materials. These projects will also result in technical training in radiation detection, cryogenics, and gas purification for graduate and undergraduate students. LXe has practical applications to gamma ray imaging for astrophysics, Homeland Security, and medical imaging, as well as for fast neutron detection.

该奖项为耶鲁大学团队为 LUX-350 暗物质实验做出贡献提供资金。 LUX-350 有望大幅提高对弱相互作用大质量粒子 (WIMP) 存在的灵敏度，这是对缺失暗物质本质的理论上有吸引力的解释。 LUX-350 是两相（液/气）氙实验，液氙 (LXe) 总质量为 350 kg，基准质量为 100 kg。 LUX-350 探测器利用 LXe 的许多功能来降低背景。主动探测器体积允许事件能量沉积和位置的完全重建。至关重要的是，由于周围 LXe 的主动屏蔽，基准体积中的背景率受到严重抑制，并且随着 LXe 质量的增加而降低。 LUX-350 的集成将在 SUSEL 新装修的地面设施（位于 Homestake 的桑福德地下科学与工程实验室）进行，然后转移到地下。在 LUX-350 上，耶鲁大学负责氙气净化系统、100 kV 阴极高压系统、慢速控制电子设备和用于探测器校准的放射源操纵器。该小组还开发了一种使用溶解在 LXe 中的 Kr-83 原子校准 LXe 探测器的方法，并对 LXe 中核反冲的闪烁效率和电荷产额进行了新的测量。更广泛的影响：与 LXe 相关的技术的发展将在世界范围内越来越多使用惰性液体作为检测材料的实验中得到应用。这些项目还将为研究生和本科生提供辐射探测、低温学和气体净化方面的技术培训。 LXe 在天体物理学、国土安全和医学成像以及快速中子探测的伽马射线成像中具有实际应用。