DM-TPC: a novel apparatus for directional Dark Matter detection
by
Prof.Gabriella Sciolla(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
→
Europe/Rome
Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica-Ed. G.Marconi)
Aula Conversi
Dip. di Fisica-Ed. G.Marconi
Description
Directional detection is key to provide unambiguous observation of
dark matter even in the presence of insidious backgrounds.
The DM-TPC collaboration is developing a TPC with optical readout
with the goal of detecting the sense and direction of the elastic
recoils generated by Dark Matter interactions. Results from the tests done on a first
prototype clearly demonstrated the suitability of this approach to
measure directionality by observing the "head-tail" effect for low-
energy nuclear recoils.
Two 10-liter prototypes of the DMTPC detector have recently been
built, and are ready to be moved to an underground laboratory for a
one-year run in 2009. A larger (1m3) detector is also being
designed. A one-year underground run with such detector will allow us
to improve the current sensitivity on spin-dependent interaction on
protons by about a factor 50.
