Construction of the LUX Dark Matter Experiment at the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory

建议书编号：0750671申请：凯斯西部保护区NSF计划：PHY？地下物理学调查员：Shutt，Thomas A.Title：在Sanford地下科学和工程实验室建造LUX暗物质实验摘要追溯到70年前的大量观测表明，宇宙由96%的无形物质和能量组成。这些缺失成分的性质是物理学中最基本的谜团之一。看不见的暗物质的主要候选者？是大爆炸遗留下来的一种亚原子粒子，被称为弱相互作用大质量粒子(WIMP)。这种粒子也可以通过超对称性来预测，超对称性是一种受欢迎的新粒子模型。尽管它们很少与常规物质相互作用，但通过它们与目标材料中的原子核的直接相互作用以及随之而来的核反冲，它们应该可以被地球上足够灵敏的探测器探测到。探测它们的主要挑战是将自然和宇宙产生的放射性减少高达10个数量级。大型地下氙气(LUX)合作组建了一个具有广度和深度经验的团队，建造和部署大型两相液体氙暗物质探测器和水盾，将安装在深地下实验室(Homestake)。Lux是由在背景拒绝和罕见事件探测方面带来基本经验的团队组成的。该奖项将提供资金来设计、建造和部署一个300公斤的活动质量两相Xe实验，该实验将把当前暗物质的灵敏度提高两个数量级，超过当前的最佳极限，事件发生率超过~1个事件/100公斤/月。大型探测器不仅需要设置这样的灵敏度极限，而且如果检测到信号，还需要在合理的时间内累积WIMP统计数据。LUX计划还将帮助开发1-10吨暗物质探测器所需的技术。在这项研究的更广泛影响中：粒子暗物质的探测将改变和扩大世界在粒子物理和天文学领域的活动。此外，这些技术本身还可以进一步扩大，并应用于其他基本实验，如双贝塔衰变和太阳中微子。与其他粒子检测技术一样，位置灵敏度和粒子识别的新方法可能会产生新的医疗诊断技术，或应用于国土安全和核控制。

PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0750671INSTITUTION: Case Western ReserveNSF PROGRAM: PHY ? UNDERGROUND PHYSICSPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Shutt, Thomas A.TITLE: Construction of the LUX Dark Matter Experiment at the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory ABSTRACTA wealth of observations, dating back 70 years, show that the universe is composed of 96% invisible matter and energy. The nature of these missing components is one of the most fundamental mysteries in physics. The leading candidate for the invisible ?dark matter? is a subatomic particle left over from the big bang known as the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). Such particles are also predicted by supersymmetry, a favored class of new particle models. Although they only very rarely interact with conventional matter, they should be detectable by sufficiently sensitive detectors on Earth, through their direct interaction with, and the ensuing recoil of, nuclei in a target material. The primary challenge in detecting them is reducing natural and cosmogenic radioactivity by up to 10 orders of magnitude.The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) collaboration has assembled a team with the breadth and depth of experience to construct and deploy a large two-phase liquid xenon dark matter detector and water shield, to be installed at a deep underground laboratory (Homestake). LUX is composed of groups that bring essential experience in background rejection and rare event detection.This award will provide funds to design, construct and deploy a 300 kg active mass two-phase Xe experiment that will extend current dark matter sensitivity two orders of magnitude beyond current best limits, to an event rate better than ~1 event/100 kg/month. A large detector is required to not only set such a sensitivity limit, but also to accumulate WIMP statistics in a reasonable time if a signal is detected. The LUX program will also help develop the technologies required for 1?10 ton dark matter detectors.Among the Broader Impacts of this research: the detection of particle dark matter would transform and extend world activities in the particle physics and astronomical communities. Moreover, the techniques themselves can be further scaled up and applied to other fundamental experiments such as double beta decay and solar neutrinos. As with other particle detection techniques, new methods of position sensitivity and particle discrimination may give rise to new medical diagnostic techniques, or applications to Homeland Security and nuclear control.