Dark Matter and the XENON Experiment

by Marc Schumann (Physik Institut, Universität Zürich)

Friday 25 Jun 2010, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Brussels

E/3rd floor-E.349 - Seminar room (E.349) (Marc de Hemptinne (chemin du Cyclotron, 2, Louvain-la-Neuve))

There is convincing astrophysical and cosmological evidence that most of the matter in the Universe is dark: It is invisible in every band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are promising Dark Matter candidates that arise naturally in many theories beyond the Standard Model. Several experiments aims to directly detect WIMPs by measuring nuclear recoils from WIMPs scattered on target nuclei. In this talk, I will give an overview on Dark Matter and direct Dark Matter detection. Then I will focus on the XENON100 experiment, a 2-phase liquid/gas time projection chamber (TPC) that is installed underground at the Gran Sasso Underground Lab (LNGS) and present the newest results.