DM-TPC : a novel apparatus for directional Dark Matter detection
par
MlleGabriella Sciolla(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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US/Central
Salle 101 (LAL - Orsay)
Salle 101
LAL - Orsay
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. The detector, filled
with CF4 gas at low pressure, is equipped with a mesh-based
amplification region that allows for 2D imaging of the recoils in a
CCD camera. The third coordinate of the recoil is provided by PMTs.
The sense of the direction is determined by measuring the energy loss
along the recoil track.
The performance of this detector has been studied using alpha
particles, low-energy neutrons, and x-rays. Results from 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.