Low pressure negative ion time projection chamber for dark matter search

Abstract

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are an attractive candidate for the dark matter thought to make up the bulk of the mass of our universe. We explore here the possibility of using a low pressure negative ion time projection chamber to search for WIMPs. The innovation of drifting ions, instead of electrons, allows the design of a detector with very high sensitivity and background rejection and a robust statistical signature for WIMP interactions.