News & Events

HEPL / KIPAC Seminar

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Kevin O'Sullivan

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The LUX and LZ Dark Matter Experiments

Abstract: Evidence from galactic rotation curves, gravitational lensing, the cosmic microwave background, and other cosmological studies point to the existence of exotic non-luminous matter, referred to as dark matter. In spite of the strong indirect evidence for the existence of dark matter, it's composition remains unknown. Among the most promising putative dark matter candidates are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) which would be observable through their scatters with ordinary matter.

The LUX experiment searches for WIMPs using a large, ultra-low background, two-phase Xenon detector operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF). LUX is currently the leading search for spin-independent WIMP interactions for masses above 5 GeV. I will also discuss the next generation upgrade, the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, which will be two orders of magnitude more sensitive.

 

Time: 4:00pm – 5:00pm

Location: Physics/Astrophysics Bldg., Kistler Conference Rooms 102/103 (Map)

(Light refreshments available 3:45pm; Presentation begins at 4:00pm)

Open to All