Searching for Dark Matter with the DarkSide-20k Experiment

暗物质的性质是物理学中最基本的开放问题之一，而Darkside-20k实验是为探索这个问题而设计的技术的前沿。该实验将用仪器测量20吨低放射性液体Ar。该探测器由内部两相探测器和多层外部探测器组成，用于否决背景事件。这使得该实验能够测量暗物质相互作用截面，灵敏度比目前的实验提高了两个数量级。Darkside-20k实验的成功取决于对探测器反应的仔细了解。博士生的项目是开发硅光电倍增管(SiPM)的模拟，硅光电倍增管是用于读取内部探测器和否决权的传感器，开发算法来识别和表征与这些传感器相关的噪声源。此外，学生将开发一个测试平台来测量用于Darkside-20k的SiPM的响应，以及用于否决系统的其他硬件。对这些数据进行分析，并与模拟进行比较，以了解探测器，从而满足暗侧-20K实验的灵敏度设计目标。

The nature of dark matter is one of the most fundamental open questions in physics, and the DarkSide-20k experiment is at the forefront of technology designed to pursue this question. The experiment will instrument 20 tonnes of low radioactivity liquid argon. The detector consists of an inner two-phase detector and multiple layers of outer detectors to veto background events. This enables the experiment to measure dark matter interaction cross sections with two orders of magnitude increase in sensitivity over current experiments. The success of the DarkSide-20k experiment depends on a careful understanding of the response of the detector. The PhD student project is to work on developing a simulation of the silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), the sensors used to readout the inner detector and veto, developing algorithms to identify and characterise the sources of noise associated with these sensors. Additionally the student will develop a test-stand to measure the response of the SiPMs for use in DarkSide-20k as well as other hardware for use in the veto system. Analysis of these data and comparisons with simulation will be made to understand the detector and so meet the sensitivity design goal for the DarkSide-20k experiment.