Reduction of Backgrounds for WIMP Dark Matter

观测表明，宇宙中80%的物质不是由普通原子组成的，而是由未被探测到的基本“暗物质”粒子组成的，它们既不发射光，也不吸收光。值得注意的是，由于其他原因提出的粒子物理学理论预测存在弱相互作用的大质量粒子（wimp），它们的性质正好可以成为这种暗物质。如果wimp是暗物质，那么当它们在地球上的探测器散射时，它们可能会被探测到。该奖项将为锡拉丘兹大学的这个小组提供资金，以合作开展低温暗物质搜索（现在的超级cdms），该研究拥有世界上最敏感的记录之一。PI将带领他的团队更好地抑制表面相互作用，并在探测器响应的详细模拟的帮助下识别探测器内散射倍增的中子。该小组将帮助开发和建造一个探测器来否决中子引起的事件，并测量SuperCDMS中预期的中子背景。该小组将参与SuperCDMS探测器测试，包括为独特的深层设施做出关键贡献，展示新探测器的拒绝能力，并为探测器的制造和开发提供关键反馈。长期活动包括额外的低温探测器研究，重点是使制造更容易的技术，以及同时检测暗物质和中微子双β衰变的单一成本效益实验的可能性。更广泛的影响：声子介导探测器的技术发展在天文学和物理学中有着广泛的应用。该项目将帮助培养多学科领域的本科生、研究生和博士后，使用前沿测量技术，并将其应用于社会关注的领域。

Observations indicate that 80% of the matter in the Universe is not made of normal atoms, but must be otherwise undetected elementary "dark matter" particles that don't emit or absorb light. Remarkably, particle physics theories proposed for other reasons predict the existence of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with just the right properties to be this dark matter. If WIMPs are the dark matter, they may be detectable when they scatter in Earth-based detectors.This award will provide funding for this Syracuse group to collaborate on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (now SuperCDMS) that has a track record as one of the world's most sensitive. The PI will lead his group to achieve better rejection of surface interactions and identify neutrons that multiply scatter within a detector, aided by detailed simulations of the detector response. The group will help develop and construct a detector to veto events caused by neutrons and measure the expected neutron background in SuperCDMS. The group will take part in SuperCDMS detector testing, including making key contributions to a unique deep facility, demonstrating the rejection capabilities of new detectors and providing critical feedback for detector fabrication and development. The long-term activities include additional cryogenic detector research, focusing on technologies that allow easier manufacturing and the possibility of a single cost-effective experiment to detect both dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay.Broader Impacts: Technological development of phonon-mediated detectors has widespread applications in astronomy and physics. The project will help train undergraduates, graduates, and postdocs in a multidisciplinary field using techniques at the leading edge of measurement technologies with applications in areas of societal interest.