Date of Award

Summer 2024

Language

English

Embargo Period

7-26-2024

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Physics

Program

Physics

First Advisor

Cecilia Levy

Second Advisor

Matthew Szydagis

Committee Members

Cecilia Levy, Matthew Szydagis, Jonathan Petruccelli

Keywords

LUX-ZEPLIN, NEST, dark matter, WIMPs

Subject Categories

Physics

Abstract

There is a substantial amount of evidence that a majority of the mass in the universe is comprised of a non-luminous substance, given the name dark matter. Many candidates have been theorized as the solution to the dark matter mystery, with the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) being a favorable candidate. WIMPs may be detectable via interactions with nucleons, a method known as direct detection. The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment is a xenon-based dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC), that specializes in searching for WIMP-nucleon interactions. TPCs are used to reconstruct event information using scintillation and ionization, which are products of interactions within. Though no WIMP signals have been detected thus far, LZ set world-leading limits on WIMP-nucleon interactions in 2022.

The Noble Element Simulation Technique (NEST) is a simulation package used to predict and reproduce signal yields in noble elements for energy deposits at various electric fields. In particular, NEST uses semi-empirical models based on real-world data to accurately reproduce yields, detector effects, and more. This thesis focuses on two nuclear recoil models within NEST, the total quanta model and the deuterium-deuterium (DD) energy spectrum model. While these models have worked well to predict signal yields, they are updated in this thesis to reflect more recent work at the time of this thesis.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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