DEAP-3600 Dark Matter Search at SNOLAB

ORAL

Abstract

The DEAP-3600 experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions on 3.6 tonnes of liquid argon at SNOLAB. The argon is contained in a large ultralow-background acrylic vessel viewed by 255 8-inch photomultiplier tubes. Very good pulse-shape discrimination has been demonstrated for scintillation in argon, and the detector has been designed for a total background budget, including (alpha,n) and external neutron recoils, surface contamination from 210Pb and radon daughters, of 0.2 events per tonne-year, allowing an ultimate sensitivity to spin-independent scattering of 10$^{-46}$ cm$^2$ per nucleon at 100 GeV mass. Installation of the detector is currently being completed at SNOLAB. The status of the experiment and an overview of low background techniques employed will be presented.

Authors

  • Mark Boulay

    Queen's University