Experimental Particle Cosmology

多个天文观测已经确定，宇宙中大约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，那么它们在银河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。低温暗物质搜索（CDMS）合作组织率先使用低温声子介导的探测器来检测WIMP在原子核上的罕见散射，并将它们与背景区分开来。这项工作将产生广泛的影响，超出了暗物质的搜索。技术发展将进一步推动声子介导探测器的发展，声子介导探测器已经在科学和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科学家将继续参与公共宣传，与K-12教师合作，并支持伯克利物理专业的学生，他们正在接受科学教学培训，并为来自服务不足背景的有前途的高中生提供支持。该奖项将为SuperCDMS Soudan的分析，SuperCDMS SNOLAB的探测器和硬件的测试和表征提供支持，并在建设期间提供科学支持，实验的安装和调试。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着的优势，对低质量暗物质具有世界领先的灵敏度，对高质量WIMPS具有竞争力的灵敏度，并且在单个实验中具有多目标互补性。

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.