Speaker
Description
DarkSide-20k represents the next stage of the direct detection dark matter search program based on argon as its target material within the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration (GADMC). The experiment is currently under construction at LNGS, Italy. The argon target provides powerful discrimination between the electron (background) and nuclear (signal) recoils in the form of pulse shape discrimination, thanks to the large difference in lifetimes between argon excimers’ singlet and triplet states. The detector will be instrumented as a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC), filled with Underground Argon (UAr), depleted by a factor of ~1500 in Ar39, viewed from the top and bottom by two large arrays of Silicon Photo Multipliers (SiPM) and enclosed by Gd-loaded PMMA lateral walls. An exposure goal of ≈ 200 tonne-years with near-zero instrumental background is expected to have world-leading sensitivity for particles with a mass above 1 TeV/c2 over a 10-year run. I will report on the ongoing efforts toward the DarkSide-20k.
