On the Mechanism of Townsend Avalanche for Negative Molecular Ions

Time projection chambers drifting negative ions (NITPC) instead of electrons have several advantages. A NITPC can operate at very high reduced drift fields without diffusion runaway, and the readout digitization sampling rate requirement is considerably relaxed due to the low drift speed of negative ions. The initiation of Townsend avalanches to allow gas gain in these devices has not been understood until now. It is shown here that the avalanche in low pressure CS$_2$ vapor is most likely initiated by collisional detachment of the electron from the negative molecular ion. In mixtures of Nitromethane vapor with CO$_2$ the mechanism appears to be more complex

A benign, low Z electron capture agent for negative ion TPCs

We have identified nitromethane (CH$_3$NO$_2$) as an effective electron capture agent for negative ion TPCs (NITPCs). We present drift velocity and longitudinal diffusion measurements for negative ion gas mixtures using nitromethane as the capture agent. Not only is nitromethane substantially more benign than the only other identified capture agent, CS$_2$, but its low atomic number will enable the use of the NITPC as a photoelectric X{}-ray polarimeter in the 1{}-10 keV band

Low Pressure Negative Ion Drift Chamber for Dark Matter Search

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are an attractive candidate for the dark matter thought to make up the bulk of the mass of our universe. We explore here the possibility of using a low pressure negative ion drift chamber to search for WIMPs. The innovation of drifting ions, instead of electrons, allows the design of a detector with exceptional sensitivity to, background rejection from, and signature of WIMPs.Comment: 5 pages submitted to PR

The DRIFT Project: Searching for WIMPS with a Directional Detector

A low pressure time projection chamber for the detection of WIMPs is discussed. Discrimination against Compton electron background in such a device should be very good, and directional information about the recoil atoms would be obtainable. If a full 3-D reconstruction of the recoil tracks can be achieved, Monte Carlo studies indicate that a WIMP signal could be identified with high confidence from as few as 30 detected WIMP-nucleus scattering events.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Presented at Dark 98, Heidelberg, July 1998, and to appear in conference proceeding

Energy Deposition of Energetic Silicon Atoms Within a Silicon Lattice

The energy dependence of the ionization produced in silicon by recoiling silicon atoms was measured in the 4–54-keV energy interval. It is found that the fraction of the recoil energy that is dissipated as ionization follows an E1/2 dependence which agrees well with the predictions of the theory of Lindhard et al. [Mat. Fys. Medd. 33, 10 (1963)]

Gaseous Dark Matter Detectors

Dark Matter detectors with directional sensitivity have the potential of yielding an unambiguous positive observation of WIMPs as well as discriminating between galactic Dark Matter halo models. In this article, we introduce the motivation for directional detectors, discuss the experimental techniques that make directional detection possible, and review the status of the experimental effort in this field.Comment: 19 pages, review on gaseous directional dark matter detectors submitted to New Journal of Physic

Directional recoil rates for WIMP direct detection

New techniques for the laboratory direct detection of dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are sensitive to the recoil direction of the struck nuclei. We compute and compare the directional recoil rates ${dR}/{d\cos\theta}$ (where $\theta$ is the angle measured from a reference direction in the sky) for several WIMP velocity distributions including the standard dark halo and anisotropic models such as Sikivie's late-infall halo model and logarithmic-ellipsoidal models. Since some detectors may be unable to distinguish the beginning of the recoil track from its end (lack of head-tail discrimination), we introduce a ``folded'' directional recoil rate ${dR}/{d|\cos\theta|}$, where $|\cos\theta|$ does not distinguish the head from the tail of the track. We compute the CS$_2$ and CF$_4$ exposures required to distinguish a signal from an isotropic background noise, and find that ${dR}/{d|\cos\theta|}$ is effective for the standard dark halo and some but not all anisotropic models.Comment: 39 pages, 15 figure

Muon Catalyzed Fusion in 3 K Solid Deuterium

Muon catalyzed fusion in deuterium has traditionally been studied in gaseous and liquid targets. The TRIUMF solid-hydrogen-layer target system has been used to study the fusion reaction rates in the solid phase of D_2 at a target temperature of 3 K. Products of two distinct branches of the reaction were observed; neutrons by a liquid organic scintillator, and protons by a silicon detector located inside the target system. The effective molecular formation rate from the upper hyperfine state of $\mu d$ and the hyperfine transition rate have been measured: $\tilde{\lambda}_(3/2)=2.71(7)_{stat.}(32)_{syst.} \mu/s$, and $\tilde{\lambda}_{(3/2)(1/2)} =34.2(8)_{stat.}(1)_{syst.} \mu /s$. The molecular formation rate is consistent with other recent measurements, but not with the theory for isolated molecules. The discrepancy may be due to incomplete thermalization, an effect which was investigated by Monte Carlo calculations. Information on branching ratio parameters for the s and p wave d+d nuclear interaction has been extracted.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRA Feb 20, 199

A Study of the Residual 39Ar Content in Argon from Underground Sources

The discovery of argon from underground sources with significantly less 39Ar than atmospheric argon was an important step in the development of direct-detection dark matter experiments using argon as the active target. We report on the design and operation of a low background detector with a single phase liquid argon target that was built to study the 39Ar content of the underground argon. Underground argon from the Kinder Morgan CO2 plant in Cortez, Colorado was determined to have less than 0.65% of the 39Ar activity in atmospheric argon.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure