Speaker
Prof.
Mani Tripathi
(UC Davis)
Description
The LZ collaboration has proposed a 2nd generation direct dark matter search experiment, which builds on the experience gained with the LUX and ZEPLIN series of
experiments on the two-phase xenon TPC technique. It features an active target volume of ~7 tonnes and a robust 3-layer shield system consisting of a xenon skin volume and a liquid scintillator veto, embedded in the existing 6m diameter water tank at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We have developed a novel design for the liquefaction, recirculation and purification for this unprecedented large volume of xenon. Our studies of backgrounds are comprehensive and predict a fiducial volume larger than 5 tonnes, in which the dominant electron and nuclear recoil backgrounds are from astrophysical neutrinos. The projected sensitivity for a 1,000 day running period for the WIMP-nucleon cross section is below 2.5x10^-48 cm^2 at a WIMP mass of 50 GeV. We will
present some details of the advanced design of LZ, the background model, and our physics goals.
