CrystaLiZe: A Solid Future for LZ

  • March 30, 2020, 2:00 pm US/Central
  • Scott Kravitz, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Radon and its daughter decays limit the sensitivity of direct WIMP dark matter searches, despite extensive screening programs, careful material selection and specialized Rn-reduction systems. For xenon time projection chambers, a means to surpass this constraint may lie in crystallizing the xenon. In a solid matrix, each of the decay steps surrounding the problematic radon daughter beta decay isotopes could be vetoed at the fixed position of the decay sequence. The constraint of time structure in the sequence could allow veto efficiency to approach 100%, with minimal effect on acceptance. In this case, the limiting background for WIMP searches would be neutrinos from the sun and from cosmic ray muons. In this talk, I will argue that an instrumental radon tag in a crystalline xenon TPC may be the quickest path to reaching the neutrino floor and present preliminary results from a test stand which suggest that solid Xe is a viable particle detection medium.

Contact Antonella Palmese for information on how to join the meeting remotely.