Speaker
Sally Shaw
(University of Edinburgh)
Description
Despite overwhelming astrophysical evidence that approximately 84% of the matter in the Universe is dark and fundamentally distinct from ordinary matter, terrestrial experiments searching for direct interactions of dark matter particles have yet to observe a convincing signal. Over the past two decades, dramatic gains in experimental sensitivity have been driven by the development of liquid noble-element detectors, and now specialised low-threshold searches and novel detector technologies are extending the search toward lighter dark matter candidates. In this talk, I will review the current status of direct detection experiments, highlight recent results, and discuss future prospects on the path toward discovery.