The SABRE South Experiment and its Liquid Scintillator Veto

• Lachlan Milligan (University of Birmingham)

SABRE is an international collaboration that will operate similar particle detectors in the Northern (SABRE North) and Southern Hemispheres (SABRE South), with the aim of testing the anomalous DAMA/LIBRA signal — an annually modulating event rate claimed to be consistent with dark matter. This innovative approach distinguishes possible dark matter signals from seasonal backgrounds, a strategy only possible with a southern hemisphere experiment. SABRE South is located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia. SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (∼2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction has been completed in 2023. The SABRE South detector employs ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals immersed in a Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, alongside a plastic scintillator muon veto placed on top of the detector shielding. In this seminar SABRE South detector will be described, along with its anticipated performance and potential physics reach. The liquid scintillator veto and the work undertaken to exploit it to its fullest extent will be detailed. Finally, recent updates on the progress of the experiment will be discussed.