The full coverage approach to the detection of Extensive Air Showers

A shower array exploiting the full coverage approach with a high segmentation of the readout allow to image the front of atmospheric showers with unprecedented resolution and detail. The grid distance determines the energy threshold (small energy showers are lost in the gap between detectors) and the quality of the shower sampling. Therefore, this experimental solution is needed to detect showers with a threshold in the 100 GeV range. The full coverage approach has been exploited in the ARGO-YBJ experiment. In this contribution we will summarise the advantages of this technique and discuss possible applications in new wide field of view detectors.Comment: Invited Talk to 21st International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 202

DIRECT DARK MATTER INVESTIGATION

Experimental efforts and theoretical developments support that most of the Universe is dark and a large fraction of it should be made of relic particles; many possibilities are open on their nature and interaction types. This motivates experimental efforts to investigate the direct detection of these particles with various techniques. In particular, experiments offering a model-independent signature for the presence of Dark Matter (DM) particles in the Galactic halo are mandatory. In this paper, some general arguments will be summarized and particular care will be given to the results obtained by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment (sensitive mass: ∼ 250 kg) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN by exploiting the model-independent DM annual modulation signature with highly radiopure NaI(Tl) target-detectors. Cumulatively with the former DAMA/NaI experiment (sensitive mass: ∼ 100 kg) an exposure of 1.17 t · y, collected over 13 annual cycles, has been released so far; a model-independent evidence of the presence of DM particles in the Galactic halo is supported at 8.9σ conˇdence level (C.L.). In addition, experimental and theoretical uncertainties and their implications in the interpretation and comparison of different kinds of results will be shortly addressed. Some perspectives will be mentioned