30 research outputs found
The Electronics and Data Acquisition System of the DarkSide Dark Matter Search
It is generally inferred from astronomical measurements that Dark Matter (DM)
comprises approximately 27\% of the energy-density of the universe. If DM is a
subatomic particle, a possible candidate is a Weakly Interacting Massive
Particle (WIMP), and the DarkSide-50 (DS) experiment is a direct search for
evidence of WIMP-nuclear collisions. DS is located underground at the
Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy, and consists of three
active, embedded components; an outer water veto (CTF), a liquid scintillator
veto (LSV), and a liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC). This paper
describes the data acquisition and electronic systems of the DS detectors,
designed to detect the residual ionization from such collisions
A new measurement of the K-+/- -> pi(+/-)gamma gamma decay at the NA48/2 experiment
The NA48/2 experiment at CERN collected two data samples with minimum bias trigger conditions in 2003 and 2004. A measurement of the rate and dynamic properties of the rare decay K-+/- -> pi(+/-)gamma gamma from these data sets based on 149 decay candidates with an estimated background of 15.5 +/- 0.7 events is reported. The model-independent branching ratio in the kinematic range z = (m(gamma gamma)/m(K))(2) > 0.2 is measured to be B-MI(z > 0.2) = (0.877 +/- 0.089) x 10(-6), and the branching ratio in the full kinematic range assuming a particular Chiral Perturbation Theory description to be B(K-pi gamma gamma) = (0.910 +/- 0.075) x 10(-6). (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
The impact of recent advances in laboratory astrophysics on our understanding of the cosmos
An emerging theme in modern astrophysics is the connection between
astronomical observations and the underlying physical phenomena that drive our
cosmos. Both the mechanisms responsible for the observed astrophysical
phenomena and the tools used to probe such phenomena - the radiation and
particle spectra we observe - have their roots in atomic, molecular, condensed
matter, plasma, nuclear and particle physics. Chemistry is implicitly included
in both molecular and condensed matter physics. This connection is the theme of
the present report, which provides a broad, though non-exhaustive, overview of
progress in our understanding of the cosmos resulting from recent theoretical
and experimental advances in what is commonly called laboratory astrophysics.
This work, carried out by a diverse community of laboratory astrophysicists, is
increasingly important as astrophysics transitions into an era of precise
measurement and high fidelity modeling.Comment: 61 pages. 11 figures; to appear in Reports on Progress in Physic
DarkSide-50, a background free experiment for dark matter searches
The existence of dark matter is inferred from gravitational effects, but its nature remains a deep mystery. One possibility, motivated by considerations in elementary particle physics, is that dark matter consists of elementary particles, such as the hypothesized Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), with mass ~ 100 GeV and cross-section ~ 10â47 cm2, that can be gravitationally trapped inside our galaxy and revealed by their scattering on nuclei. It should be possible to detect WIMPs directly, as the orbital motion of the WIMPs composing the dark matter halo pervading the galaxy should result in WIMP-nucleus collisions of sufficient energy to be observable in the laboratory. The DarkSide-50 experiment is a direct WIMP search using a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC) with an active mass of 50 kg with a high sensitivity and an ultra-low background detector
First Results from the DarkSide-50 Dark Matter Experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
We report the first results of DarkSide-50, a direct search for dark matter operating in the un-
derground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) and searching for the rare nuclear recoils
possibly induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The dark matter detector is a
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber with a
(
46.4
0.7
)
kg active mass, operated inside a 30 t or-
ganic liquid scintillator neutron veto, which is in turn installed at the center of a 1 kt water Cherenkov
veto for the residual flux of cosmic rays. We report here the null results of a dark matter search for
a
(
1422
67
)
kg d exposure with an atmospheric argon fill. This is the most sensitive dark matter
search performed with an argon target, corresponding to a 90% CL upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon
spin-independent cross section of 6.1
1
The Electronics and Data Acquisition System of the DarkSide Dark Matter Search
It is generally inferred from astronomical measurements th
at Dark
Matter (DM) comprises approximately 27% of the energy-dens
ity of the universe.
If DM is a subatomic particle, a possible candidate is a Weakl
y Interacting Mas-
sive Particle (WIMP), and the DarkSide-50 (DS) experiment i
s a direct search for
evidence of WIMP-nuclear collisions. DS is located undergr
ound at the Laboratori
Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy, and consists of thr
ee active, embedded
components; an outer water veto (CTF), a liquid scintillato
r veto (LSV), and
a liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC). This pap
er describes the
data acquisition and electronic systems of the DS detectors
, designed to detect
the residual ionization from