The CRESST dark matter search

The CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) experiment at the Gran Sasso Laboratory will search for dark matter WIMPs using cryogenic detectors. In the first stage we will use four 262 g sapphire crystals with thresholds of about 0.5 keV. This low threshold gives us sensitivity to WIMP masses below 10 GeV, making CRESST complementary to other dark matter searches. The main installation in Gran Sasso is now complete and we report on the first detector tests

Global Food Security Governance: Civil Society Engagement in the Reformed Committee on World Food Security

In 2007/8 world food prices spiked and global economic crisis set in, leaving hundreds of millions of people unable to access adequate food. The international reaction was swift. In a bid for leadership, the 123 member countries of the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security (CFS) adopted a series of reforms with the aim of becoming the foremost international, inclusive and intergovernmental platform for food security. Central to the reform was the inclusion of participants (including civil society and the private sector) across all activities of the Committee. Drawing on data collected from policy documents, interviews and participant observation, this book examines the re-organization and functioning of a UN Committee that is coming to be known as a best practice in global governance. Framed by key challenges that plague global governance, the impact and implication of increased civil society engagement are examined by tracing policy negotiations within the CFS, in particular, policy roundtables on smallholder sensitive investment and food price volatility and negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition. The author shows that through their participation in the Committee, civil society actors are influencing policy outcomes. Yet analysis also reveals that the CFS is being undermined by other actors seeking to gain and maintain influence at the global level. By way of this analysis, this book provides empirically-informed insights into increased participation in global governance processes

Patterns on the Fish Skins Induced by Anisotropy in Diffusion (Interfaces, Pulses and Waves in Nonlinear Dissipative Systems : RIMS Project 2000 "Reaction-diffusion systems : theory and applications")

The EURECA (European Underground Rare Event Calorimeter Array) project is aimed at searching for dark matter particles using cryogenic bolometers. The proponents of the present project have decided to pool their strengths and expertise to build a facility to house up to 1000 kg of detectors, EURECA, consisting in the first instance of germanium and CaWO 4 crystals. The shielding will be provided through a large water tank in which the cryostat with detectors will be immersed. The EURECA infrastructure will be an essential tool for the community interested in using cryogenic detectors for dark matter searches. Beyond European detectors, it will be designed to host other types of similar cryogenic detectors, requiring millikelvin operating temperatures. In particular, this includes the germanium detectors currently in use by the SuperCDMS team, following the current collaborative work performed by the EURECA and SuperCDMS collaborations. EURECA will have two stages. The first phase aims at a sensitivity of 3 . 10 −10  pb and will involve building the infrastructure, cryostat and shielding, and operating 150 kg of detectors. The second phase will be completed with 850 kg of additional detectors, the relative weight between the different detectors being decided by the collaboration according to the physics reach. A sensitivity of 2 . 10 −11 pb is aimed for at the second stage. EURECA will ideally benefit from the planned extension of the deepest underground laboratory in Europe  – LSM. With a site-independent design, it can also be hosted in other locations at similar or deeper sites such as SNOLAB

EURECA - THE FUTURE OF CRYOGENIC DARK MATTER DETECTION IN EUROPE

EURECA (European Underground Rare Event Calorimeter Array) is an astro-particle physics facility aiming to directly detect galactic dark matter. The Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane has been selected as host laboratory. The EURECA collaboration unites CRESST, EDELWEISS and the Spanish-French experiment ROSEBUD, thus concentrating and focussing effort on cryogenic detector research in Europe into a single facility. EURECA will use a target mass of up to one ton, enough to explore WIMP - nucleon scalar scattering cross sections in the region of 10-9 - 10-10 picobarn. A major advantage of EURECA is the planned use of more than just one target material (multi target experiment for WIMP identification). © EAS, EDP Sciences 2009