Christian Hagemann
University of New Mexico
Note different date and time
Thursday, April 17, 2008
12:00 pm in SPL 3rd Floor Lounge
Study of Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils for Direct Detection of Dark Matter
Abstract: I will briefly describe the nature of the directionality signature from dark matter particles passing through the solar system, and motivate the importance of detecting this signal. I also show how this directional signal can be measured in our detectors, which use low-pressure gas as the target material. Just how well the directionality can be measured is limited by detector resolutions and by uncertainties in our knowledge of the energy-loss of low energy nuclear recoils resulting from WIMP interactions. I will describe preliminary results from our ongoing R&D, whose goal is to ultimately address both of these issues.