Conveners
Fundamental physics
- Matthias Laubenstein (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
Astrophysical observations indicate that a significant fraction of the energy content of the Universe is composed of cold dark matter. The most promising candidates for a particle explanation of dark matter are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Xe based dual-phase TPC is one of the best technologies in the field of direct dark matter searches, reporting the most stringent upper...
The SABRE project aims to produce ultra-low background NaI(Tl) scintillating detectors to carry out a model-independent search for dark matter through the annual modulation signature, with an unprecedented sensitivity to confirm or refute the DAMA/LIBRA claim. This means achieving the lowest background rate ever reached for a NaI(Tl) detector, of the order of 0.1 counts/day/kg/keV in the...
The VIP experiment, operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN, aims to perform high sensitivity tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for electrons. In the context of Local Quantum Field Theories, deviations from PEP are strongly constrained by the Messiah Greenberg Superselection (MGS) rule, which forbids superpositions of states with different symmetry. Such...
The DarkSide-20k experiment will search for dark matter in the form of WIMPs and has potential to set the most stringent limits for the spin-independent interaction of heavy WIMPs with nucleons. The central detector will be a dual-phase time projection chamber with an Ar target. The background requirement is 0.1 events in 200 tonne years, which is the most stringent one ever set so far in the...
Innovative experimental techniques are needed to further search for dark matter (DM) weakly interacting massive particles. The ultimate limit is represented by the ability to efficiently construct and identify nuclear and electron recoil events at the experimental energy threshold. Gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPC) with optical readout are very promising candidates thanks to the 3D event...
Among various recently developed compounds from the A2MB6-family (A = Li, K, Cs, Tl; M = Hf or Zr; B = Cl, Br or I), the Cs2ZrCl6 (CZC) scintillating crystals are of particular interest as they are the first scintillating material containing 16% Zr by weight. The 96Zr isotope is a very promising for neutrinoless double beta decay (DBD) searches because of its high energy transition (Qbb = 3.35...
