Search for Dark Matter with Liquid Argon Detectors

Art McDonald
Gordon and Patricia Gray Chair Emeritus
2015 Nobel Physics Laureate
Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy, Queen’s University

Abstract

Liquid argon has excellent properties for the detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS) as candidates for Dark Matter. Gravitational effects of Dark Matter in our galaxy imply a significant density of WIMP particles if they form a significant fraction of the Dark Matter. It is possible to search for such particles causing nuclear recoils in large underground liquid argon detectors as we move through the galaxy. Interactions from gamma and beta rays can be strongly suppressed due to very different duration of the light emission from such background. A progression of detectors from DEAP to Darkside to ARGO will be discussed that will push the sensitivity for WIMPS by several orders of magnitude, to the point where the sensitivity is limited by background from atmospheric neutrino interactions.

Timbits, coffee, tea will be served in STI A before the colloquium.