Conveners
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology: Chaired by Jocelyn Monroe
- Scott Dodelson (Fermilab/UChicago)
- Jocelyn Monroe (MIT)
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology: Chaired by Andrew Zentner
- Scott Dodelson (Fermilab/UChicago)
- Jocelyn Monroe (MIT)
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology: Chaired by Savvas Koushiappas
- Jocelyn Monroe (MIT)
- Scott Dodelson (Fermilab/UChicago)
Dr
Andrew Hime
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
8/10/11, 4:30 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The MiniCLEAN dark matter experiment exploits a single-phase liquid argon (LAr) detector, instrumented with photomultiplier tubes submerged in the cryogen with nearly 4pi coverage of a 500 kg (150 kg) target (fiducial) mass. The high light yield and unique properties of the scintillation time-profile in LAr provide effective defense against radioactive backgrounds through pulse-shape...
Alex Wright
(Princeton University)
8/10/11, 4:50 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
DarkSide is a direct detection dark matter program based on two-phase argon time projection chambers using argon from underground sources that is naturally depleted in 39Ar. DarkSide-50, the first physics detector in the DarkSide program, will be deployed within the Borexino CTF tank in Gran Sasso Laboratory, Italy. The unique combination of the CTF muon veto, ultra-low background construction...
Scott Hertel
(Department of Physics)
8/10/11, 5:10 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
There has been much recent interest in Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) models with masses below 10 GeV/c^2. Data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) have been reanalyzed to give increased sensitivity to these models. Using a lowered, 2 keV recoil energy threshold, we have reanalyzed data from eight germanium detectors operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, and...
Mr
Jeremy Chapman
(Brown)
8/10/11, 5:30 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment will facilitate direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with a 350 kg xenon TPC. LUX will be able to detect 100 GeV WIMPs with scalar cross section as low as 7e−46 cm2, equivalent to ~0.5 events/100 kg/month in a 100 kg inner fiducial volume. Electromagnetic background event rates are limited below 5e−4 events/keV/kg/day by...
Juan Collar Colmenero
(University of Chicago)
8/10/11, 5:50 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
Recent results from CoGeNT and future directions will be discussed.
Mr
David Malling
(Brown University)
8/10/11, 6:10 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter search experiment is currently being deployed at the Sanford Laboratory at Homestake in South Dakota (see Rick Gaistkell’s talk), as a precursor to DUSEL. In partnership with more international institutions, we are already thinking about the next (two) experiment(s) that will follow: LZ-S (3 t) and LZ-D (20 t). This talk describes the work...
Mr
Ignacio Sevilla
(CIEMAT)
8/11/11, 10:30 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a project with the goal of building, installing and exploiting a new 70 CCD-camera at the Blanco telescope, in order to study the nature of cosmic acceleration. It will cover 5000 square degrees of the southern hemisphere sky and will record the positions and shapes of 300 million galaxies up to redshift 1.4. The survey will be completed using 525 nights during...
Masao Sako
(University of Pennsylvania)
8/11/11, 10:50 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Dark Energy Survey (DES) will use a new massive imaging instrument, the
Dark Energy Camera (DECam), to study the properties of the mysterious,
presently-dominant source of energy that is causing the universe to go through
an accelerating expansion. The camera will be installed on the 4-meter Blanco
telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and commissioning is
expected...
Dr
Jiangang Hao
(Fermilab)
8/11/11, 11:10 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a next generation optical survey aimed at understanding the expansion rate of the universe using four complementary methods: weak gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster counts, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae. To perform the survey, the DES Collaboration is building the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square degree, 520 Megapixel CCD camera...
Ms
Stephanie Moyerman
(UCSD)
8/11/11, 11:30 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
Recent studies of the temperature anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) lend support to an inflationary origin of the universe, yet no direct evidence verifying inflation exists. Current generation experiments now focus on the polarization anisotropy in the CMB, specifically the curl component of the CMB’s polarization (called the “B-mode”), which is undetected to date. The...
Sudeep Das
(UC BERKELEY)
8/11/11, 11:50 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
Over the coming decade, tiny fluctuations in temperature and polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) will be mapped with unprecedented resolution. The Planck Surveyor, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), and the South Pole Telescope (SPT) are already making great advances. In a few years, high resolution polarization experiments, such as PolarBear, ACTPol, and SPTPol will be...
Prof.
Charles Jui
(University of Utah)
8/11/11, 12:10 PM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Telescope Array (TA) is the largest ultrahigh energy (UHE) cosmic ray observatory in the northern hemisphere. TA is a hybrid experiment with a unique combination of fluorescence detectors and a stand-alone surface array of scintillation counters. We will present the spectrum measured by the surface array alone, along with those measured by the fluorescence detectors in monocular, hybrid,...
Dr
Oleg Kamaev
(Queen's University)
8/12/11, 8:00 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment and its successor, SuperCDMS, use solid-state detectors operated near 40 mK to search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The experiment measures the ionization and athermal phonons from particle interactions to discriminate WIMP candidate events (nuclear recoils) from background events (electron recoils) with very high...
Mr
Jeremy Lopez
(MIT)
8/12/11, 8:20 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) experiment uses a time
projection chamber filled with low pressure CF4 gas to detect the
direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils. Recoils from WIMPs in the
galactic dark matter halo are expected to have a directional signal
distinct from all known backgrounds. Recent work has been done to
develop instrumentation to read out both the...
Dr
Marilena Loverde
(Institute for Advanced Study)
8/12/11, 8:40 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
Cosmic inflation provides a mechanism for generating the early density perturbations that seeded the large-scale structures we see today. Primordial non-Gaussianity is among the most promising of few observational tests of physics at this epoch. At present non-Gaussianity is best constrained by the cosmic microwave background, but in the near term large-scale structure data may be competitive...
Prof.
Andrew Zentner
(University of Pittsburgh)
8/12/11, 9:00 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
Any program to identify dark matter relies on direct detection of dark matter scattering in low-background experiments, collider signatures, and indirect astrophysical signatures of dark matter. I will review contemporary constraints from indirect searches for dark matter. I will then present several new perspectives on the indirect detection of dark matter. First I will focus on the Sun...
Nathaniel Reden
(Brandeis University)
8/12/11, 9:20 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
We revisit multidimensional quantum tunneling, as a model for studying the state of the inflaton after a tunneling transition from a false vacuum. Previous approaches to the subject make some technically incorrect assumptions about the validity of the WKB approximation. I will present a new method that avoids these mistakes, in more carefully treating the separation between the tunneling and...
Ms
Nassim Bozorgnia
(UCLA)
8/12/11, 9:40 AM
Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
Parallel contribution
The channeling effect in crystals refers to the orientation dependence of charged ion penetration in crystals. In direct dark matter crystalline detectors, a channeled ion recoiling after a collision with a WIMP gives all its energy to electrons. Thus channeling increases the ionization or scintillation signal expected from a WIMP. Channeling is a directional effect which depends on the...
