Large Underground Xenon experiment

The Large Underground Xenon experiment (LUX) aimed to directly detect weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter interactions with ordinary matter on Earth. Despite the wealth of (gravitational) evidence supporting the existence of non-baryonic dark matter in the Universe,[1] dark matter particles in our galaxy have never been directly detected in an experiment. LUX utilized a 370 kg liquid xenon detection mass in a time-projection chamber (TPC) to identify individual particle interactions, searching for faint dark matter interactions with unprecedented sensitivity.[2]

The LUX experiment, which cost approximately $10 million to build,[3] was located 1,510 m (4,950 ft) underground at the Sanford Underground Laboratory (SURF, formerly the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or DUSEL) in the Homestake Mine (South Dakota) in Lead, South Dakota. The detector was located in the Davis campus, former site of the Nobel Prize-winning Homestake neutrino experiment led by Raymond Davis. It was operated underground to reduce the background noise signal caused by high-energy cosmic rays at the Earth's surface.

The detector was decommissioned in 2016 and is now on display at the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center.[4]

The Large Underground Xenon experiment installed 1,480 m (4,850 ft) underground inside the water tank shield.
The Large Underground Xenon experiment installed 1,480 m (4,850 ft) underground inside a 260 m3 (70,000 US gal) water tank shield. The experiment was a 370 kg liquid xenon time projection chamber that aimed to detect the faint interactions between WIMP dark matter and ordinary matter.
  1. ^ Beringer, J.; et al. (2012). "2012 Review of Particle Physics" (PDF). Phys. Rev. D. 86 (10001): 010001. Bibcode:2012PhRvD..86a0001B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.86.010001.
  2. ^ Akerib, D.; et al. (March 2013). "The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A. 704: 111–126. arXiv:1211.3788. Bibcode:2013NIMPA.704..111A. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2012.11.135. S2CID 67768071.
  3. ^ Reich, E. Dark-matter hunt gets deep Nature 21 Feb 2013
  4. ^ Van Zee, Al (July 20, 2017). "LUX dark matter detector now part of new exhibit at Sanford Lab". Black Hills Pioneer. Lead, South Dakota. Retrieved June 21, 2019.