The Large Underground Xenon Experiment
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) Experiment presents a program for the construction and deployment of a large two-phase liquid/gas xenon dark matter detector and water shield, to be installed in 2008 at a Sanford Deep Underground Laboratory at the Homestake Mine, South Dakota. A large detector is required to not only set such a sensitivity limit, but also to accumulate WIMP statistics in a reasonable time frame if a signal is detected. The LUX program will also help develop the technologies required for 1-10 ton dark matter detectors. Liquid Xenon both scintillates and becomes ionized when hit by particles (i.e. photons, neutrons and potentially dark matter). The ratio of scintillation over ionization energy caused by the collision provides a way of identifying the interacting particle. The leading theoretical dark matter candidate, the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), could be identified in this way.
Classification: Dark matter search experiments › Non-accelerator
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- Ryan Gibbons (1 paper)