UK involvement in direct dark matter searches
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Future direct dark matter searches will require instruments with improved sensitivity and complementary targets and techniques in order to claim a discovery, and then move to more detailed studies of the particle properties and astrophysical parameters. UK researchers are in an excellent position to participate in the world leading experiments, with significant progress in sensitivity achieved by ZEPLIN-III (liquid xenon target) and EDELWEISS-II (cryogenic germanium), experiments with established UK participation, and with a recent recruitment to the UK bringing a new involvement in DEAP/CLEAN (liquid argon). We anticipate a leading UK role in scale up to a tonne fiducial mass and beyond, probing the majority of the parameter space favoured by the most credible WIMP dark matter models. This proposal focuses on the technical development work necessary to design the EURECA and LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiments, to mitigate technical risks and improving sensitivity. Meeting these goals will also facilitate the positioning of the UK teams for leadership roles in the construction, operation and exploitation of EURECA and LZ.
Planned Impact
The technologies being developed are state-of-the-art in terms of particle detection and identification. The detection of WIMPs requires technology which can also detect fast neutrons and even neutrinos. These are of interest to many security-related issues and some developments in this direction to look for neutron production and coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering could follow on. The subject of dark matter scores highly in the public interest. So far the public have followed avidly all the evidence and efforts to make detections, in spite of no credible evidence for discovery yet, but a convincing positive announcement would re-invigorate the interest and doubtless attract young people into following science as a career. For the national funding agencies, a detection would allow a new planning regime with clear and more targeted goals for future studies.
Organisations
- University of Sheffield (Lead Research Organisation)
- National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS) (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) (Collaboration)
- Saclay Nuclear Research Centre (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
Publications
Hehn L
(2016)
Improved EDELWEISS-III sensitivity for low-mass WIMPs using a profile likelihood approach
in The European Physical Journal C
Klinger J
(2015)
Muon-Induced Neutrons Do Not Explain the DAMA Data.
in Physical review letters
Klinger J
(2016)
Can muon-induced backgrounds explain the DAMA data?
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Reichhart L
(2013)
Measurement and simulation of the muon-induced neutron yield in lead
in Astroparticle Physics
Reichhart L
(2013)
Measurement and simulation of the muon-induced neutron yield in lead
Schmidt B
(2013)
Muon-induced background in the EDELWEISS dark matter search
in Astroparticle Physics
Scovell P
(2018)
Low-background gamma spectroscopy at the Boulby Underground Laboratory
in Astroparticle Physics
Zhang C
(2016)
Cosmogenic activation of materials used in rare event search experiments
in Astroparticle Physics
Description | Conceptual designs of the tonne-scale cryogenic and two-phase xenon dark matter experiments have been completed (EURECA and LZ). Modelling of background radiations has been carried out for both projects. |
Exploitation Route | Designs of the cryogenic detector with Ge crystals and two-phase xenon detector for dark matter search. Procedures and software for background modelling. |
Sectors | Other |
URL | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212686414000090 |
Description | Development of the muon simulation code. Developed initially to simulate muon-induced background in the underground laboratories, it has since been used to simulate muon transport through rock/matter in several applications beyond particle astrophysics, such as: investigating muon tomography for detecting illicit nuclear materials, studying volcanoes, muon radiography for monitoring carbon storage and mapping geological repositories. |
First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
Sector | Environment,Security and Diplomacy |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | Consolidated Grant |
Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/N000277/1, only the fraction of the grant relevant to the LZ commissioning and exploitation is indicated in the cost |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 09/2019 |
Description | Project grant: LZ construction |
Amount | £255,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/M003469/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2015 |
End | 03/2018 |
Description | STFC standard grant |
Amount | £95,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/K006444/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2013 |
End | 03/2015 |
Description | The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Search |
Amount | £203,684 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/M003469/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2015 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | EDELWEISS |
Organisation | Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) |
Department | Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe (IRFU) |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Monte Carlo modelling of radioactive background, leading the work package on background studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Joint work on EDELWEISS-II experiment |
Impact | One paper has been submitted to Physics Letter B, two more papers are in preparation |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | EDELWEISS |
Organisation | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Monte Carlo modelling of radioactive background, leading the work package on background studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Joint work on EDELWEISS-II experiment |
Impact | One paper has been submitted to Physics Letter B, two more papers are in preparation |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | EDELWEISS |
Organisation | National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS) |
Department | IN2P3-Lyon |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Monte Carlo modelling of radioactive background, leading the work package on background studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Joint work on EDELWEISS-II experiment |
Impact | One paper has been submitted to Physics Letter B, two more papers are in preparation |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | EDELWEISS |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Particle Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Monte Carlo modelling of radioactive background, leading the work package on background studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Joint work on EDELWEISS-II experiment |
Impact | One paper has been submitted to Physics Letter B, two more papers are in preparation |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | EURECA |
Organisation | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Impact | Scientific publications, software development. |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | EURECA |
Organisation | National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS) |
Department | Centre for Nuclear Sciences and Material Sciences (CSNSM) |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Impact | Scientific publications, software development. |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | EURECA |
Organisation | National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS) |
Department | IN2P3-Lyon |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Impact | Scientific publications, software development. |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | EURECA |
Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
Country | France |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Impact | Scientific publications, software development. |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | EURECA |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Collaborator Contribution | Scientific collaboration to design, build and operate a tonne-scale cryogenic experiment |
Impact | Scientific publications, software development. |
Start Year | 2006 |
Description | LZ |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Impact | LZ Conceptual Design Report, LZ Technical Design Report, LZ detector |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | LZ |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Department | Particle Physics Department |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Impact | LZ Conceptual Design Report, LZ Technical Design Report, LZ detector |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | LZ |
Organisation | University College London |
Department | Department of Physics & Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Impact | LZ Conceptual Design Report, LZ Technical Design Report, LZ detector |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | LZ |
Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
Department | School of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Impact | LZ Conceptual Design Report, LZ Technical Design Report, LZ detector |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | LZ |
Organisation | University of Liverpool |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Impact | LZ Conceptual Design Report, LZ Technical Design Report, LZ detector |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | LZ |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Collaborator Contribution | Working together on the design and future construction of the LZ detector |
Impact | LZ Conceptual Design Report, LZ Technical Design Report, LZ detector |
Start Year | 2013 |
Title | Modified SOURCES4 code |
Description | The original code SOURCES4 developed at LANL (USA) has been modified to allow more accurate calculation of neutron yield in (alpha, n) reactions on a large number of isotopes relevant to material construction for rare event experiments. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | The code is now widely used by physicists working with underground experiments for rare event searches. |
Title | Muon simulation code |
Description | A Monte Carlo code for modelling cosmic-ray muons at different underground sites (SURF at South Dakota, USA and Modane, France) |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2013 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | The code allows calculation of the muon fluxes and energy spectra underground. Initial simulations have been done for underground laboratories in Italy, France and others. In 2015 the model and method have applied to the SURF underground laboratory in the USA. |
Description | Physics World online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Interview with a journalist from Physics World Online, an article in this online journal. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/apr/09/dark-matter-and-muons-are-ruled-out-as-dama-sig... |
Description | Public talks at the amateur astronomy society meetings |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Around 100 people attended several tialks in total Several other invitations received |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013 |