Dark Matter and Rare-Event Searches with XENON1T/XENONnT

暗物质的本质是什么？这是现代科学中最有趣的开放问题之一，回答这个问题对宇宙学、天体物理学和粒子物理学都具有根本性的重要性。在过去的三十年里，为了解决这个难题，世界各地的物理学家一直在建造专门的低背景仪器，能够探测暗物质（DM）粒子与普通物质的潜在相互作用。虽然这些搜索限制了DM的特征及其与常规物质的耦合率，但这个问题仍然没有答案。该奖项支持芝加哥大学小组继续参与XENON计划，直接搜索DM。XENON1T探测器自2016年春季以来一直在意大利中部的格兰萨索国家实验室运行。它的特点是一个2吨重的液态氙（LXe）目标，作为一个两相时间投影室（TPC），能够检测DM粒子与普通物质的可能相互作用。XENON1T/nT将探测弱相互作用大质量粒子（wimp）范式，要么检测它们，要么进一步限制它们的特征，以及各种其他DM候选者。与此同时，该项目旨在进一步发展贵重液体TPC技术，该技术广泛应用于暗物质和中微子搜索的粒子物理中。该奖项将支持与芝加哥马丁·路德·金博士高中（当地一所少数族裔为主的公立学校）、大湖区天文馆协会和太空探索计划继续建立伙伴关系。该项目利用暗物质的奥秘来吸引学生、教育工作者和更广泛的公众参与前沿科学。它承认高中教师是沟通和传播方面的专家，最有资格找到创造性的方法，将PI的研究融入他们的教学中。该项目面向教师和天文馆工作人员，将对数百名代表性不足的少数民族学生和数千名天文馆游客产生深远而广泛的影响。该计划的一部分将加入太空探索计划，这是一个为对天文学和科学感兴趣的URM高中生开设的夏令营。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

What is the nature of Dark Matter? This is one of the most intriguing open questions of modern science and answering it is of fundamental importance to cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics. Over the last three decades, to solve this puzzle, physicists all around the world have been building specialized low-background instruments capable of detecting the potential interactions of Dark Matter (DM) particles with ordinary matter. While these searches constrained the features of DM and its coupling rate with regular matter, the question remains unanswered. This award supports the University of Chicago group to continue its involvement in the XENON program, a direct search for DM. The XENON1T detector has been operating at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in central Italy since Spring 2016. It features a 2-tonne Liquid Xenon (LXe) target, instrumented as a two-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC), capable of detecting possible interactions of DM particles with ordinary matter. XENON1T/nT will probe the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) paradigm, either detecting them or further constraining their features, as well as a variety of other DM candidates. In parallel, this program aims to further develop noble-liquids TPC technology, broadly used in particle physics for dark matter and neutrino searches.This award will support the continuation of a partnerships with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Chicago (a local minority-dominated public school), the Great Lakes Planetarium Association and the Space Explorer Program. The program uses the mystery of dark matter to engage students, educators, and the broader public in cutting edge science. It recognizes that high school teachers are the experts in communication and dissemination and best qualified to find creative ways to integrate the PI's research into their teaching. The program targets teachers and planetarium staff and will have a deep and broad impact on hundreds of Under Represented Minority (URM) students, and thousands of Planetarium visitors. A part of the program will plug into the Space Explorer Program, a summer camp for high school URM students interested in astronomy and science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.