The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Search

直接的暗物质实验寻找极罕见和非常微弱的碰撞，预计发生在被认为渗透到我们星系的冷暗物质粒子和辐射探测器的活性介质中的原子核之间。弱相互作用大质量粒子（Weakly Interactive Massive Particles，简称WIMPs）是一种假设的基本粒子，其重量只有几个质子或几个重原子核;除了引力，它们还通过弱核力相互作用，从而为它们的可能检测提供了一种机制。寻找WIMP暗物质的动机是强烈的，试图解释粒子物理学标准模型之外的理论提供了非常好的候选者。LUX-ZEPLIN（LZ）实验将在桑福德地下研究设施（SURF）的4850英尺高度部署一个7吨重的液体氙WIMP探测器，经过3年的建设阶段。在这个最安静的环境中，远离宇宙射线和当地背景，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，这为这些搜索提供了基本限制。然而，在中微子进入之前，这个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.