RUI: Optimizing Directional Dark Matter d Detectors Using ASIC and FPGA-based r Readout Electronics

多项天文观测已经确定，宇宙中大约85%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。破译这种所谓的暗物质的性质对宇宙学、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，它是由弱相互作用大质量粒子（WIMP）组成的，这些粒子是在大爆炸后产生的。如果WIMP是暗物质，那么它们在我们星系中的存在可能是通过位于地下深处的探测器中的原子核散射来检测的，以帮助排除宇宙射线造成的背景。对WIMP暗物质的直接探测将解决一个基本的谜团，并为了解宇宙的主要物质组成和粒子物理学标准模型之外的物理学提供一个独特的窗口。定向暗物质探测器可以获得暗物质的确凿证据：研究WIMP引起的反冲角分布的能力。目前，定向探测器的灵敏度落后于非定向探测器。该奖项将资助研究团队开发一种定向探测器技术，能够以高精度重建WIMP诱导的反冲，从而提高方向敏感探测器的灵敏度。这项研究中评估的探测器可能会对社会产生更广泛的好处，在实验粒子物理学的更广泛领域中的应用（例如在对撞机上的粒子跟踪和相干弹性中微子-核散射）。这种探测器也可用于空间X射线偏振测量。这项工作的更广泛影响还包括在韦尔斯利学院培训一批不同的女本科生。通过整合韦尔斯利的学生在这个实验粒子物理计划的各个方面，拟议的工作将扩大在物理学中代表性不足的群体的成员的参与。在过去的一年中，一些意想不到的，变革性的发现在负离子时间投影室（NITPC），可能提供一个飞跃的方向灵敏度由两个数量级每单位探测器体积。此外，液氩中微子探测器的探测器读数现在已知可以在NITPC中工作，这使得以低成本仪器数千个探测器通道成为可能。有了这个奖项，该团队将利用这些进展，建立一个具有高空间分辨率和低能量阈值的原型定向NITPC，进行一系列基本测量，以定量评估这项技术的前景。

Multiple astronomical observations have established that about 85% of the matter in the universe is not made of normal atoms, but must be otherwise undetected elementary "dark matter" particles that do not emit or absorb light. 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. Direct detection of WIMP dark matter would solve a fundamental mystery and provide a unique window to learning about the primary matter constituent of the Universe and of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Directional dark matter detectors have access to a smoking-gun signature of dark matter: the ability to study the angular distribution of recoils induced by WIMPs. At present, the sensitivity of directional detectors lags behind their non-directional counterparts. This award will provide funding for the research team to develop a directional detector technology capable of reconstructing WIMP-induced recoils with high precision, thus enhancing the sensitivity of direction-sensitive detectors.The detector under evaluation in this study is likely to be of wider benefit to society, with applications in the broader field of experimental particle physics (e.g. particle tracking at colliders and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering). Such detectors also have applications in space-based X-ray polarimetry. Broader impacts of this work also include the training of a diverse set of female undergraduate students at Wellesley College. By integrating students at Wellesley in all aspects of this experimental particle physics program, the proposed work will broaden the participation of members of underrepresented groups in physics.In the past year, several unexpected, transformative discoveries were made in negative-ion time projection chambers (NITPCs), potentially affording a leap in directional sensitivity by two orders of magnitude per unit detector volume. Additionally, detector readouts from liquid-argon neutrino detectors are now known to work in NITPCs, making it feasible to instrument thousands of detector channels at low cost. With this award, this team will leverage these advances by building a prototype directional NITPC with high spatial resolution and low energy threshold to undertake a suite of fundamental measurements to quantitatively assess the prospects for this technology.