Dark Matter Search with DUNE

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will be the next generation neutrino observatory. This 40 kton liquid argon TPC will be located 1 mile underground in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota and be exposed to the world's most intense accelerator driven neutrino beam from Fermilab near Chicago. Its science goals are to study neutrino oscillation, determine if there is CP violation in the lepton sector and make precision measurements of the oscillation parameters. It will also search for GUT signals like proton decays or neutron anti-neutron oscillations and act as a telescope for neutrinos coming from supernova explosions and the sun. Full scale prototypes of the detector (ProtoDUNE) have been constructed and operated at CERN. Future data taking using the final detector components are planned for 2021.
The particle physics department at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is at the heart of the UK actives in DUNE providing the overall leadership and project management in the UK as well as international technical lead for the DAQ systems of the far detector.

Dark Matter can be gravitationally trapped in the sun, annihilate and produce neutrinos. These neutrinos can be detected by DUNE. The thesis would involve developing the methods for triggering and detecting these neutrinos as well as determining the sensitivity to these signatures. The student will work at the interface between theory and experiment, especially the DAQ. Some of the algorithms developed by the studentship can be tested in the next run of the ProtoDUNE detectors at CERN, which the student can get involved with.