Speaker
Description
ANAIS-112 is a dark matter search experiment that uses 112.5 kg of sodium iodide (NaI) crystals at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) in Spain to study the expected annual modulation in the galactic dark matter signal, in order to confirm or reject the modulation observation of DAMA/LIBRA in the past at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. Latest ANAIS-112 results corresponding to 6yrs+ are compatible with the absence of modulation within 1 σ and incompatible with DAMA/LIBRA signal at 4.0σ (1–6 keV) and 3.5σ (2–6 keV), with an overall sensitivity of ~4σ [1]. Building on ANAIS-112, the next-generation ANAIS+ project aims to improve the sensitivity of NaI scintillators by replacing traditional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), offering enhanced light collection and reduced background. This could allow a reduction in energy threshold below 0.5 keV which can result in competitive dark matter searches, especially for spin-dependent interacting light WIMPS. Within the ANAIS+ project, a test set-up with a cryogenic facility has been prepared at Zaragoza for characterization of crystals and SiPMs and for the study of light collection from room temperature down to 100 K. The preparation and test of a first ANAIS+ prototype is underway in collaboration with colleagues from LNGS. As a next step, it is proposed to operate these prototypes at approximately 85 K inside a liquid argon environment within a dedicated cryostat. The liquid Ar will act as a thermal bath and veto system for ANAIS+, allowing detailed characterization of both the scintillation light yield and scintillation time constants at cryogenic temperatures, as well as the performance of SiPMs under these conditions at LSC in collaboration with CIEMAT (Spain). The last results of ANAIS-112, as well as status and prospects of both, ANAIS-112 and ANAIS+, will be presented.
Reference
[1] Amaré, J., et al. Towards a robust model-independent test of the DAMA/LIBRA dark matter signal: ANAIS-112 results with six years of data. Physical Review Letters 135 (2025) 051001, arXiv:2502.01542.
| Position | PhD Student |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA), University of Zaragoza, Spain |
| Country | Spain |