I am Dan McKinsey, and I am a dark matter hunter from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, AMA!

Abstract

That’s a wrap! Thanks for all the great questions today. Don’t forget to check out #DarkMatterDay tomorrow via http://www.darkmatterday.com. I’m Dan McKinsey and am here to answer your questions about dark matter, the mysterious stuff that makes up an estimated 85 percent of all matter in the universe, and about how we search for it. My research, before with LUX and now with LUX-ZEPLIN, the next generation of dark matter particle detectors that is under construction at an underground research facility in South Dakota, centers on non-accelerator particle physics, particle astrophysics, and low-temperature physics. In particular, I work on the development, construction, and operation of new detectors using liquid forms of noble gases like xeon, which are useful in looking for physics beyond the Standard Model. Applications for this research include the search for dark matter interactions with ordinary matter, searches for a process known as neutrinoless double beta decay that can help us understand the matter-antimatter imbalance in the universe, and the measurement of the low-energy solar neutrino flux. This talk is one of dozens of events that are related to Dark Matter Day, an international celebration of the search for the unseen on October 31st. Dan McKinsey’s Bio http://physics.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/Daniel-McKinsey Dark Matter Day - http://www.darkmatterday.com Ask Symmetry - How is the Force like dark matter? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTNIwSidjc Next-Gen Dark Matter Detector in a Race to Finish Line http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2017/02/13/next-gen-dark-matter-detector-race-finish-line/ Dark Matter day is Approaching… but Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark http://bit.ly/lbnl-dmd-reddit Berkeley Lab - http://bit.ly/lbnl-reddit