DM-Ice: Current Status and Future Prospects

• Main Author: Pettus, Walter C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-10-2015
• Subjects: Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics; Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1510.00378

DM-Ice is a program towards the first direct detection search for dark matter
in the Southern Hemisphere with a 250 kg-scale NaI(Tl) crystal array. It will
provide a definitive understanding of the modulation signal reported by DAMA by
running an array at both Northern and Southern Hemisphere sites. A 17 kg
predecessor, DM-Ice17, was deployed in December 2010 at a depth of 2457 m under
the ice at the geographic South Pole and has concluded its 3.5 yr data run. An
active R&D program is underway to investigate detectors with lower backgrounds
and improved readout electronics; two crystals with 37 kg combined mass are
currently operating at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. We report on the
final analyses of the DM-Ice17 data and describe progress towards a 250 kg
DM-Ice experiment.