Speaker
Description
Out of the total mass-energy density of the universe, about 27% is non-baryonic and non-standard constituent referred as Dark Matter (DM). Our present theory of the universe at fundamental scales is challenged by the missing observation of a particle candidate of DM. A multidisciplinary effort for direct detection of such a candidate is being pursuit globally. Liquid argon has become one of the leading candidates among noble cryogenic liquids for direct detection of particle DM.
The DarkSide-20k (DS-20k), an effort of Global Argon DM Collaboration (GADMC), is being constructed as a dual phase time projection chamber (TPC), relying on light + charge signals, to explore a wide parameter space of WIMP candidate(s). The sensitivity of DS-20k to WIMP-nucleon interaction, over 10 years of data taking, will be able to probe the parameter space very close to the neutrino fog, an irreducible background. The experiment is employing noble techniques in various aspects including, careful selection of materials for detector construction, use of argon procured from underground sources, integrated neutron veto, deployment of ~ 27 m$^2$ area of low-noise cryogenic SiPM arrays in form of photo-detector units (PDUs) and a state of the art DAQ system. The physics reach of the experiment includes low-mass WIMP search, supernova neutrino detection, and sensitivity to other BSM mediators of DM-nucleon interaction. The current status of the detector construction, reconstruction algorithms and sensitivity projections shall be discussed in the presentation.
| Position | Senior Postdoc |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | INFN-LNGS |
| Country | Italy |