Cosmology and Astro-particle physics journal club

The CDMSlite experiment

by Dr. Ritoban Basu Thakur (University of Chicago / KICP)

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at A304
Description
Direct detection of dark matter remains one of the biggest outstanding problems in modern physics. Several international experiments using varied technologies are pursuing this. The CDMS low ionization threshold experiment (CDMSlite) uses cryogenic germanium detectors operated at a relatively high bias voltage to amplify the phonon signal in the search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Results are presented from the first and second CDMSlite runs. New parameter space for the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section is excluded for WIMP masses between 1.6 and 5.5 GeV/c2, and this complements experiments like LUX.