Faculty Candidate Seminar
Speaker:Peter Sorensen
Title:Prospects for direct detection of dark matter in 2013 and beyond
Host:Svoboda
Room: 185
Abstract: I will discuss efforts to directly detect interactions of galactic dark matter
particles, with a focus on dual phase liquid xenon detector technology. First results from the 350 kg LUX experiment are expected before the end of 2013, and after a roughly 300 day search campaign LUX will represent the state of the art
sensitivity over much of the mass range expected for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). I will discuss the Achilles' Heel of this very successful detector technology, the nuclear recoil energy scale, and plans to address it. LUX
was designed to detect WIMPs, and while the WIMP hypothesis is very compelling, it is not the only possibility. I will describe efforts to adapt liquid xenon detector technology to search for dark matter particles with non-weak scale masses, via "non-standard" detection techniques. Finally, I will discuss what we can expect from
next-generation experiments such as LZ.
