Experimental Particle Cosmology

实验粒子宇宙学

• 批准号: 1408597
• 负责人: Bernard Sadoulet
• 金额: $ 94.74万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1408597&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Experimental; Particle; Cosmology

Multiple astronomical observations have established that about 85% of the matter in the universe is not made of known particles. Deciphering the nature of this so-called Dark Matter is of fundamental importance to cosmology, astrophysics, and high-energy particle physics. A leading hypothesis is that it is comprised of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, that were produced moments after the Big Bang. If WIMPs are the dark matter, then their presence in our galaxy may be detectable via scattering from atomic nuclei in detectors located deep underground to help reject backgrounds due to cosmic rays.The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) Collaboration has pioneered the use of low temperature phonon-mediated detectors to detect the rare scattering of WIMPs on nuclei and distinguish them from backgrounds. This work will have a broad impact which extends beyond the dark matter search. The technical developments will further advance phonon-mediated detectors, which have already found many applications in science and technology.This award will also contribute to the training of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, using techniques at the leading edge of measurement technologies. SuperCDMS scientists will continue their involvement in public outreach, collaboration with K-12 teachers, and support for Berkeley physics majors who are training to teach science and for promising high school students from underserved backgrounds.This award will provide support for the analysis of SuperCDMS Soudan, testing and characterization of the detectors and hardware of SuperCDMS SNOLAB, and scientific support during construction, installation and commissioning of the experiment. Finally, it will support long term R&D into improving the phonon and ionization sensitivity of cryogenic semiconductor detectors. The high background rejection and control of contamination that SuperCDMS technology offers provide significant advantages compared to other technologies, providing world-leading sensitivity to low-mass dark matter, competitive sensitivity to high-mass WIMPS, and multiple-target complementarity in a single experiment.

多项天文观测证实，宇宙中约85%的物质不是由已知粒子组成的。破译这种所谓的暗物质的本质对宇宙学、天体物理学和高能粒子物理学具有根本的重要性。一个主要的假设是，它是由相互作用很弱的大质量粒子组成的，这些粒子是在大爆炸后不久产生的。如果WIMP是暗物质，那么它们在我们银河系中的存在可能是通过位于深处的探测器中原子核的散射来检测到的，以帮助排除由于宇宙射线造成的背景。低温暗物质搜索(CDMS)合作开创了使用低温声子介导的探测器来探测WIMP在原子核上罕见的散射并将它们与背景区分开来的先河。这项工作将产生超越暗物质搜索的广泛影响。这些技术发展将进一步推动声子介导型探测器的发展，这种探测器已经在科学技术中得到了许多应用。该奖项还将有助于培养本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员，使用测量技术的前沿技术。SuperCDMS的科学家将继续参与公众宣传，与K-12教师合作，并支持伯克利物理专业的学生，他们正在接受教授科学的培训，以及来自贫困背景的有前途的高中生。该奖项将为SuperCDMS Soudan的分析、SuperCDMS SNOLAB探测器和硬件的测试和表征提供支持，并在实验的建设、安装和调试期间提供科学支持。最后，它将支持长期研发，以提高低温半导体探测器的声子和电离灵敏度。与其他技术相比，SuperCDMS技术提供的高背景抑制和污染控制提供了显著的优势，提供了世界领先的对低质量暗物质的灵敏度、对高质量WIMPS的竞争灵敏度以及在单个实验中的多目标互补性。