The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Search

直接暗物质实验寻找的是被认为渗透到银河系的冷暗物质粒子与辐射探测器活性介质中的原子核之间预计会发生的极其罕见和非常微弱的碰撞。弱相互作用大质量粒子，或称WIMP，是一种假设的基本粒子，重量小到几个质子，重到几个重原子核；除了引力，它们还会受到弱核力的作用，从而为它们可能的探测提供了一种机制。寻找WIMP暗物质的动机是强烈的，试图解释粒子物理标准模型之外的东西的理论提供了非常好的候选。LUX-ZEPLIN(LZ)实验将在桑福德地下研究设施(SURF)4850英尺的水平部署一个7吨重的液体氙气WIMP探测器，经过3年的建设阶段。在这个最安静的环境中，不受宇宙射线和当地背景的影响，LZ将运行至少3年，希望能找到一些WIMP相互作用的迹象。LZ将是如此敏感，以至于它将只受到天体物理中微子背景的限制，这些背景为这些搜索提供了根本限制。然而，在中微子开始之前，这项实验有可能最终揭示暗物质的本质。

Direct dark matter experiments search for the extremely rare and very faint collisions expected to occur between the cold dark matter particles that are believed to permeate our galaxy and the nuclei of atoms in the active medium of a radiation detector. Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, or WIMPs, are hypothetical elementary particles weighing as little as a few protons or as much as several heavy nuclei; besides gravity, they would interact by the weak nuclear force, thereby providing a mechanics for their possible detection. The motivation to search for WIMP dark matter is strong, with theories that attempt to explain what lies beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics providing very good candidates.The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will deploy a 7-tonne liquid xenon WIMP detector at the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) after a 3-year construction phase. In this most quiet of environments, shielded from cosmic rays and local backgrounds, LZ will then operate for at least 3 years to hopefully find a handful of tell-tale signs of WIMP interactions. LZ will be so sensitive that it will be limited only by backgrounds from astrophysical neutrinos, which provide a fundamental limit to these searches. However, before neutrinos set in, this experiment has the potential to finally shed light on the nature of dark matter.