3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161
Daniel McKinsey (University of California, Berkeley) "Detecting light dark matter particles with the TESSERACT experiment"
Determining the identity of dark matter particles is one of the most pressing goals in modern physics, and a number of recently developed theoretical models suggest that dark matter particles might inhabit the so-called "light dark matter" regime of 1 keV/c2 to 1 GeV/c2. The future TESSERACT experiment will search for individual galactic dark matter (DM) particles with mass below 1 GeV/c2 through their interactions with advanced, ultra-sensitive detectors with energy thresholds below 1 eV. Currently TESSERACT is in a design phase aiming to produce fully defined detector technologies that will explore DM masses down to 10 MeV, sensitive to DM candidates that produce either nuclear recoil DM (NRDM) or electron recoil DM (ERDM). To do so, multiple target materials will be used with varying detection strategies to ensure the capability to both actively reject the so-called low-energy excess and discriminate nuclear recoils against electron recoils. In addition to maximizing sensitivity to a variety of DM interactions, this provides an independent handle on instrumental backgrounds.The TESSERACT project encompasses two technologies, namely HeRALD using superfluid helium as a target material, and SPICE using polar crystals (Al2O3 and SiO2) and scintillating crystals such as GaAs.
