Researchers launch world's most sensitive dark matter detector

The first scientific data, published in an article on the LZ experiment website, showed that all settings

performed correctly, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The device is ready to search for dark matter.

LUX-ZEPLIN is located at a depth of more than 1.5 km inSanford Underground Research Center in South Dakota. The experiment is designed to capture WIMPs, hypothetical weakly interacting massive particles. Placing sensors underground should protect them from cosmic radiation, which can drown out dark matter signals.

Participants of the experiment inside the water tank after installing the detector. Image: LZ, SLAC

The base of the detector is two nestedtitanium tanks containing about 10 tons of very pure liquid xenon. They are viewed using photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) capable of detecting weak light sources. Tanks of gas are placed in a larger detector system to capture particles that can mimic a dark matter signal.

Collisions of particles in xenon cause visibleflickering or flashes of light that are recorded by PMTs, scientists explain. In addition, such interactions will also knock out electrons from xenon atoms, causing them to drift towards the top of the chamber under the action of the applied electric field. There they will create another flash, allowing the spatial event to be reconstructed. Researchers analyze the characteristics of scintillations (short-term luminescence) to determine the types of particles interacting in xenon.

Diagram of the device (left) and the principle of its operation (right). Image: LZ, SLAC

Invisible because it does not radiate, notabsorbs and does not scatter light, dark matter is fundamental to our understanding of the universe. For example, the presence of dark matter, which is estimated to make up about 85% of the total mass of the universe, determines the shape and movement of galaxies.

So far, no one has been able to detect particles of dark matter. The researchers believe that the new detector, which has become the most sensitive in the world, will help solve this problem.

We plan to collect about 20 times more data in the coming years, so we're just getting started. We have a lot of science to do, and it's very interesting!

Hugh Lippincott, UC Santa Barbara researcher and participant in the LZ experiment

Cover photo: internal detector before installation. Source: LZ, SLAC

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