Dark matter searches and neutrino measurements with the DarkSide-20k experiment

The DarkSide-20k experiment is a new experiment aiming to detect dark matter via elastic scattering of dark matter particles from space on argon nuclei in the detector. When operational, DarkSide-20k will quickly become the most sensitive direct dark matter search experiment ever constructed for dark matter masses in the MeV to TeV range. This project explores the potential to expand the discovery potential of DarkSide-20k to non-standard dark matter models and perform competitive measurements sensitive to non-standard neutrino interactions on nucleons from solar neutrino sources. The student will develop and improve existing simulations of light emission, transport, and detection in DarkSide from dark matter and radioactive background processes, and develop optimal methods of signal and background discrimination that will be applied to first data from this new experiment.