Dark matter search with the SABRE experiment

31 May 2017, 18:10
20m

Speaker

Paolo Montini (INFN - National Institute for Nuclear Physics)

Description

The SABRE (Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection) experiment will search for an annually modulating signal from dark matter using an array of ultra-pure NaI(Tl) detectors surrounded by an active scintillator veto to further reduce the intrinsic background. The rate of interactions between DM particles and the detector is expected to modulate due to Earth’s changing velocity relative to the DM halo. The first phase of the experiment is the SABRE Proof of Principle (PoP), a single 5kg crystal detector operated in a liquid scintillator filled vessel at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). The PoP installation is underway with the goal of running in 2017 and performing the first in situ measurement of the crystal background and testing the veto efficiency, thus validating the SABRE concept. GEANT4-based Monte Carlo simulations have been developed to estimate the background in the PoP. The most recent simulation is based on radio-purity measurements of the detector components and includes detailed versions of the detector part geometries. The second phase of SABRE will be twin arrays of NaI(Tl) detectors operating at LNGS and at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia. By locating detectors in both hemispheres, SABRE will minimize seasonal systematic effects. In this talk, the SABRE PoP activities at LNGS and results from the most recent Monte Carlo simulations will be presented.

Author's Name Paolo
Author's Institute Montini
Author's e-mail paolo.montini@roma1.infn.it
Abstract Title Dark matter search with the SABRE experiment
Subject BSM+DM

Authors

Paolo Montini (INFN - National Institute for Nuclear Physics) SABRE Collaboration

Presentation materials