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The LUX‐ZEPLIN dark matter experiment
Author(s) -
Parveen Nishat
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.202113945
Subject(s) - physics , dark matter , time projection chamber , wimp , weakly interacting massive particles , light dark matter , particle physics , xenon , warm dark matter , universe , astrophysics , nuclear physics , hot dark matter , scalar field dark matter , dark energy , cosmology , electron
Dark matter is one of the greatest mysteries of the Universe. The attributes of the dark matter particles, which make up about 86 % of the mass of our Universe, are still obscure. LUX‐ZEPLIN (LZ) will be the most sensitive direct detection dark matter experiment to detect the faint interactions between the dark and ordinary matter. The LZ experiment employs the technology of a dual‐phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) in combination with a novel active neutron veto to detect Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), one of the propitious dark matter candidates. For a 1,000 live day run, the projected spin‐independent cross‐section sensitivity of LZ is 1.6 × 10 −48 cm 2 for a 40 GeV c −2 mass WIMP. LZ will also probe the sensitivity to neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 136 Xe. For 1,000 live days, the median exclusion sensitivity to the half‐life of 0νββ decay of 136 Xe is predicted to be 1.06 × 10 26 years. The LZ experiment is currently under construction and it will start commissioning by the end of 2020.