Dark matter detection with bubble chambers

Authors

Matthew M. Szydagis, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

COUPP (Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics) uses stable room-temperature bubble chambers to search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) which might compose a significant fraction of the galactic dark matter. The superheated refrigerant used, CF3I, is a fire-extinguishing agent and an optimal target for both spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP couplings. At the moderate degrees of superheat necessary to detect low-energy nuclear recoils such as those expected from WIMPs, this fluid exhibits a measured intrinsic rejection of minimum-ionizing backgrounds better than 10^10. The metastable superheated state is, however, sensitive to alpha-recoils. This leads to the requirement to reach ultra-trace levels of alpha-emitters within the active volume of the chambers. The eventual goal is to match the radio-purity in alpha-emitters of modern large neutrino detectors.

Comments

Lead author: Edward Behnke

Corresponding author: Brian Odom

Collaboration: COUPP

Recommended Citation

Szydagis, Matthew M., "Dark matter detection with bubble chambers" (2011). Physics Faculty Scholarship. 46.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/physics_fac_scholar/46