Preparation of Neutron-activated Xenon for Liquid Xenon Detector Calibration

We report the preparation of neutron-activated xenon for the calibration of liquid xenon (LXe) detectors. Gamma rays from the decay of xenon metastable states, produced by fast neutron activation, were detected and their activities measured in a LXe scintillation detector. Following a five-day activation of natural xenon gas with a Cf-252 (4 x 10^5 n/s) source, the activities of two gamma ray lines at 164 keV and 236 keV, from Xe-131m and Xe-129m metastable states, were measured at about 95 and 130 Bq/kg, respectively. We also observed three additional lines at 35 keV, 100 keV and 275 keV, which decay away within a few days. No long-lifetime activity was observed after the neutron activation.Comment: to be published in NIM A, corrected typos in Table 1 and Fig.6 of the previous versio

Using MODIS to detect cropping frequency variation in mechanized agriculture in Amazonia.

Policy makers concerned with managing rapidly developing agriculture on the Amazon frontier currently have no Basin-wide spatial and temporal information on exactly when and how soubean and other mechanized annual cropping have developed in the region. To address this, we present a reliminary evaluation of the use of moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 250 m vegetation index (VI) time-series data to detect croppping frequency in two municipalities, Vilhena, Rondônia, and Santarém, Pará

Using MODIS to detect cropping frequency variation in mechanized agriculture in Amazonia.

Policy makers concerned with managing rapidly developing agriculture on the Amazon frontier currently have no Basin-wide spatial and temporal information on exactly when and how soubean and other mechanized annual cropping have developed in the region. To address this, we present a reliminary evaluation of the use of moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 250 m vegetation index (VI) time-series data to detect croppping frequency in two municipalities, Vilhena, Rondônia, and Santarém, Pará

Report of the panel on plate motion and deformation, section 2

Given here is a panel report on the goals and objectives, requirements and recommendations for the investigation of plate motion and deformation. The goals are to refine our knowledge of plate motions, study regional and local deformation, and contribute to the solution of important societal problems. The requirements include basic space-positioning measurements, the use of global and regional data sets obtained with space-based techniques, topographic and geoid data to help characterize the internal processes that shape the planet, gravity data to study the density structure at depth and help determine the driving mechanisms for plate tectonics, and satellite images to map lithology, structure and morphology. The most important recommendation of the panel is for the implementation of a world-wide space-geodetic fiducial network to provide a systematic and uniform measure of global strain

Constraints on inelastic dark matter from XENON10

It has been suggested that dark matter particles which scatter inelastically from detector target nuclei could explain the apparent incompatibility of the DAMA modulation signal (interpreted as evidence for particle dark matter) with the null results from CDMS-II and XENON10. Among the predictions of inelastically interacting dark matter are a suppression of low-energy events, and a population of nuclear recoil events at higher nuclear recoil equivalent energies. This is in stark contrast to the well-known expectation of a falling exponential spectrum for the case of elastic interactions. We present a new analysis of XENON10 dark matter search data extending to E$_{nr}=75$ keV nuclear recoil equivalent energy. Our results exclude a significant region of previously allowed parameter space in the model of inelastically interacting dark matter. In particular, it is found that dark matter particle masses $m_{\chi}\gtrsim150$ GeV are disfavored.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

First Results from the XENON10 Dark Matter Experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory

The XENON10 experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory uses a 15 kg xenon dual phase time projection chamber (XeTPC) to search for dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The detector measures simultaneously the scintillation and the ionization produced by radiation in pure liquid xenon, to discriminate signal from background down to 4.5 keV nuclear recoil energy. A blind analysis of 58.6 live days of data, acquired between October 6, 2006 and February 14, 2007, and using a fiducial mass of 5.4 kg, excludes previously unexplored parameter space, setting a new 90% C.L. upper limit for the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section of 8.8 x 10^{-44} cm^2 for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c^2, and 4.5 x 10^{-44} cm^2 for a WIMP mass of 30 GeV/c^2. This result further constrains predictions of supersymmetric models.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Status of the LUX Dark Matter Search

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter search experiment is currently being deployed at the Homestake Laboratory in South Dakota. We will highlight the main elements of design which make the experiment a very strong competitor in the field of direct detection, as well as an easily scalable concept. We will also present its potential reach for supersymmetric dark matter detection, within various timeframes ranging from 1 year to 5 years or more.Comment: 4 pages, in proceedings of the SUSY09 conferenc

A search for light dark matter in XENON10 data

We report results of a search for light (<10 GeV) particle dark matter with the XENON10 detector. The event trigger was sensitive to a single electron, with the analysis threshold of 5 electrons corresponding to 1.4 keV nuclear recoil energy. Considering spin-independent dark matter-nucleon scattering, we exclude cross sections \sigma_n>3.5x10^{-42} cm^2, for a dark matter particle mass m_{\chi}=8 GeV. We find that our data strongly constrain recent elastic dark matter interpretations of excess low-energy events observed by CoGeNT and CRESST-II, as well as the DAMA annual modulation signal.Comment: Manuscript identical to v2 (published version) but also contains erratum. Note v3==v2 but without \linenumber