65 research outputs found
Prospects for SIMPLE 2000: A large-mass, low-background Superheated Droplet Detector for WIMP searches
SIMPLE 2000 (Superheated Instrument for Massive ParticLE searches) will
consist of an array of eight to sixteen large active mass ( g)
Superheated Droplet Detectors(SDDs) to be installed in the new underground
laboratory of Rustrel-Pays d'Apt. Several factors make of SDDs an attractive
approach for the detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs),
namely their intrinsic insensitivity to minimum ionizing particles, high
fluorine content, low cost and operation near ambient pressure and temperature.
We comment here on the fabrication, calibration and already-competitive first
limits from SIMPLE prototype SDDs, as well as on the expected immediate
increase in sensitivity of the program, which aims at an exposure of 25
kg-day during the year 2000. The ability of modest-mass fluorine-rich detectors
to explore regions of neutralino parameter space beyond the reach of the most
ambitious cryogenic projects is pointed out.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures included. New Journal of Physics, in pres
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