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

多项天文观测已经证实，宇宙中约85%的物质不是由正常原子组成，而是必须是不发射或吸收光线的、未被探测到的基本型“暗物质”粒子。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地下深处的探测器中原子核的散射来检测到的，以帮助排除宇宙射线的背景。直接探测WIMP暗物质将解开一个根本之谜，并为了解宇宙的主要物质组成和超越粒子物理标准模型的物理学提供了一个独特的窗口。定向暗物质探测器可以获得暗物质的确凿特征：研究WIMP诱导的反冲的角分布的能力。目前，定向探测器的灵敏度落后于非定向探测器。这一奖项将资助研究小组开发一种定向探测器技术，能够高精度地重建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对社会有更广泛的好处，应用于更广泛的实验粒子物理领域(例如对撞机上的粒子跟踪和中微子-原子核的相干弹性散射)。这种探测器在天基X射线偏振测量中也有应用。这项工作的更广泛影响还包括在韦尔斯利学院培训一批多样化的女本科生。通过将卫尔斯理的学生整合到这个实验粒子物理项目的所有方面，拟议的工作将扩大代表不足的群体成员对物理的参与。在过去的一年里，在负离子时间投影室(NITPC)中取得了几项意想不到的、变革性的发现，潜在地使每单位探测器体积的方向灵敏度跃升了两个数量级。此外，目前已知液氮中微子探测器的探测器读数在NITPC中工作，这使得以低成本测量数千个探测器通道是可行的。有了这一奖项，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方向性NITPC原型，以进行一套基本测量，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.