Contents
Dark Matter
|
|
Composition of the universe |
Map of dark matter in the universe |
(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss) |
(Credit: Van Waerbeke, Heymans and the CFHTLenS Collaboration) |
The universe is mostly made out of matter that it is unlike the 'stuff' that we are familiar with (see for example here). The consensus is that dark matter is made out of heavy (order 150 times the proton mass), weakly interacting (and thus hard to spot) particles. DEAP-3600 is currently taking the search for this particle to the next level.
DEAP-3600 Experiment
The DEAP-3600 detector design is an open volume of 3600 kg of single phase liquid argon (LAr), viewed by photomultiplier tubes. This sensitive photo detectors pick up the tiny amounts of light produced by possible dark matter interactions with the LAr. Experiments such as SNO+ have shown cost-effective detection of low energy, rare events with large, self-shielding detectors with good photocathode coverage. DEAP-3600 will perform a direct search for scattering of dark matter particles on liquid argon with sensitivity to the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section of 10-46 cm2.
DEAP-3600 is an international collaboration of institutions in the UK, Canada and the US.
Information about the DEAP-3600 Experiment can be found here.
Contact at the University of Sussex: Dr Simon JM Peeters.