Reduction of Backgrounds for WIMP Dark Matter

观测表明，宇宙中80%的物质不是由正常原子组成的，而是不发射或吸收光的未被检测到的基本“暗物质”粒子。值得注意的是，由于其他原因而提出的粒子物理学理论预测了弱相互作用大质量粒子（WIMP）的存在，这些粒子的性质恰好是这种暗物质。如果WIMP是暗物质，那么当它们在地球上的探测器中散射时，它们可能会被探测到。该奖项将为锡拉丘兹的这个小组提供资金，以合作开展低温暗物质搜索（现在的SuperCDMS），该项目是世界上最敏感的项目之一。PI将带领他的团队实现更好地拒绝表面相互作用，并通过对探测器响应的详细模拟来识别探测器内多次散射的中子。该小组将帮助开发和建造一个探测器，以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。长期活动包括开展更多的低温探测器研究，侧重于更容易制造的技术，以及是否有可能进行一次具有成本效益的实验来探测暗物质和无中微子双β衰变。该项目将帮助培养本科生，研究生和博士后在多学科领域使用测量技术的前沿技术与社会利益的领域的应用。

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.