Special Seminar: "SuperCDMS SNOLAB: the Deepest, Coldest Dark Matter Search Experiment" by Silvia Scorza (SNOLAB)

Friday 7 Feb 2020, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Amsterdam

H331 (Nikhef)

The current astroparticle physics program will help understand the nature of the universe with the possible discovery of the nature of dark matter. Dark matter experiments have to be shielded from background radiation that would interact and hide the physics of interest, and have to exhibit a radioactive background as low as possible. Being protected from cosmic rays, the underground environment provides the conditions necessary for experiments dealing with such rare or exotic interactions. The SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment is being installed in the Ladder Lab at the SNOLAB facility, based at a depth of 2km in the Vale Creighton mine near Sudbury, Ontario. Early science is possible in the coming year as the detectors are tested in the nearby CUTE facility and a first run in the new low background, shielded cryostat is expected to start in early 2020s. The initial payload of twenty-four detectors is comprised of two types of state of the art cryogenic silicon and germanium crystals operated at tens of mK, photolithographically patterned to detect ionization and phonon signals from particle interaction. The current status of SuperCDMS experiment and the CUTE test facility along with their potential for science results will be presented.