Abstract

LUX (Large Underground Xenon) is a dark matter direct detection experiment deployed at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD, operating a 370 kg dual-phase xenon TPC. Results of the first WIMP search run were presented in late 2013, for the analysis of 85.3 live-days with a fiducial volume of 118 kg, taken during the period of April to August 2013. The experiment exhibited a sensitivity to spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering with a minimum upper limit on the cross section of 7.6×10−46cm2 at a WIMP mass of 33 GeV/c2, becoming the world's leading WIMP search result, in conflict with several previous claimed hints of discovery.

Highlights

  • The observational evidence for the existence of dark matter is overwhelming, mainly due to its gravitational effects

  • A total of 85.3 live-days of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) search data were acquired starting in April 2013

  • The tritiated methane was removed by the purification system using a hot getter. This allowed a high-statistics, homogenous distribution to be acquired for low-energy depositions from β− events within the liquid xenon (EHm3ax = 18.6 keV)

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Summary

Introduction

The observational evidence for the existence of dark matter is overwhelming, mainly due to its gravitational effects. A wide variety of cosmological observations support the existence of non-baryonic cold dark matter: galactic rotation curves, the precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background, the study of supernovae and the mapping of large scale structures [1]. Despite this progress, the identity of dark matter remains a mystery. There are different methods that can be used to detect nuclear recoils, including collecting ionization, scintillation, or thermal energy deposition data In this framework, dual-phase liquid xenon detectors are a powerful technology for the direct detection of dark matter [2, 3, 4]

The LUX detector
First LUX Dark Matter search results
Conclusions and outlook

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