DM-ICE

(Dark Matter in Ice)

DM-ICE is a new initiative to search for dark matter at the South Pole. The primary goal of DM-ICE will be to cross-check the annual modulation phenomenon observed by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment. DAMA/ LIBRA consists of 250kg of NaI crystals, operating deep underground in Gran Sasso National Laboratory. The collaboration has reported a statistically significant modulation in the rate of events detected by their crystal detectors. This modulation is consistent with the expected variation in dark matter flux that is produced by the motion of the Earth around the Sun (and thus relative to the halo of dark matter that envelopes the Milky Way). The DAMA/LIBRA result is controversial due to its inconsistency with the null observation of many other direct detection experiments. The DM-ICE experiment will attempt to directly check the DAMA/LIBRA result by deploying the same detector substrate (NaI) in a location with opposite seasonal effects. A proposal is being developed to deploy these crystals ~2km deep inside the polar ice, using the ICECUBE neutrino detector as a cosmic-ray veto. A feasibility study for this effort is currently underway. Two NaI crystals will be attached to two of the remaining ICECUBE strings that are to be deployed at the end of 2010. This will help us understand whether NaI crystal may be reliably operated for dark matter detection in such a configuration and will provide a preliminary assessment of the environmental background. If the feasibility study is successful, it will open the opportunity for constructing a ~250kg NaI experiment at the South Pole. With sufficiently low backgrounds, such an experiment will have the sensitivity to definitively confirm or reject the DAMA/LIBRA claim.