Conveners
Parallel - dark matter: Wednesday Salisbury
- Alberto Uson (University of Edinburgh)
Parallel - dark matter: Friday Prestonfield
- Sam Woodford
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Huan Zhang08/04/2026, 15:45Parallel talk
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) and the next generation XLZD experiments are designed to search for dark matter using two-phase xenon time projection chambers. Apart from searching for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), LZ is also looking for axion-like particles (ALPs), solar neutrino, mirror dark matter, and hidden photons. XLZD has already published or been researching on its projections to...
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Andrzej Gawdzik08/04/2026, 16:00Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
The nature of dark matter remains one of the pivotal questions in physics. To date, large-scale direct detection experiments have primarily focused on weakly interacting massive particles with masses above the GeV scale, leaving much of the eV–GeV mass range comparatively unexplored. This motivates the development of alternative detection strategies capable of probing sub-GeV dark matter,...
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Isabelle Darlington (UCL)08/04/2026, 16:15Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
Accidental coincidence events have emerged as the dominant background in low-energy rare event searches using dual-phase xenon time projection chambers. Interactions in the liquid xenon result in a primary scintillation signal (S1) and the release of electrons. These electrons then drift up under an electric field to the liquid surface where they are extracted and produce a secondary...
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Dr Ash Ritchie-Yates (The University of Manchester)08/04/2026, 16:30Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
Darkside-20k is a direct dark matter detection experiment situated at LNGS, Italy, featuring a dual-phase liquid argon TPC with an active target mass of 50 tonnes. Due to the zero nuclear spin of argon, liquid argon detector data is typically interpreted only in terms of spin-independent dark matter interactions. However, in the non-relativistic effective field theory (NREFT) framework, liquid...
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Dr Lachlan Milligan (University of Birmingham)08/04/2026, 16:45Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
DarkSPHERE is a next generation spherical proportional counter to explore light dark matter candidates in the 0.05 - 10 GeV mass range. To maximise radiopurity, the detector is planned to be fully electroformed underground at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. This approach opens up the potential to achieve sensitivity reaching the neutrino fog in the 1 GeV region. In this talk, current...
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Angus Thompson (University of Oxford)08/04/2026, 17:00Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
DarkSide-20k, currently under construction at LNGS, is a dark matter direct-detection experiment employing a dual-phase liquid argon TPC filled with more than 50 tonnes of underground argon. As the largest detector of its kind, it presents substantial technical and integration challenges.
To validate new technologies and reduce construction risk, an intermediate-scale prototype (the Mockup)...
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Simran Dave10/04/2026, 11:00Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a dual phase xenon time projection chamber, searching for WIMP dark matter, and other rare phenomena. Decays from the $^{222}$Rn chain pose a dominant background in LZ, requiring multiple mitigation strategies targeting either $^{222}$Rn or its daughters. One method utilised by LZ is an inline radon removal system, separating radon from gaseous xenon using a charcoal...
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Catherine Lawes (King's College London)10/04/2026, 11:15Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber designed to search for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter via nuclear recoils within a 7-tonne active target. In addition to its primary WIMP search programme, LZ is sensitive to a wide range of other dark matter signatures.
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In this talk, I describe a computer-vision-based technique to identify... -
Lizzie Bloomfield (University of Oxford)10/04/2026, 11:30Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
Dark matter direct detection experiments have historically focused on searches for GeV-TeV/c$^2$ mass WIMP dark matter, undergoing spin-independent scattering interactions with a target. However, there are well motivated models at lower masses including those with spin-dependent interactions. This parameter space remains significantly less constrained due to the challenge of achieving lower...
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Daria Santone10/04/2026, 11:45Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
DarkSide-20k is a global direct dark matter detection experiment in the construction phase at LNGS (in Italy). The core of the detector is a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC) filled with 50 tonnes of low-radioactivity liquid argon. The entire TPC wall is surrounded by a pure polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) of 15 cm, which acts as a neutron veto, immersed in a second low-radioactivity...
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Dr Paolo Franchini (University of Oxford)10/04/2026, 12:00Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
Darkside-20k is a global direct dark matter detection experiment situated underground at LNGS (in Italy), designed to reach a total exposure of 200 tonne-years, nearly free from instrumental backgrounds. The core of the detector is a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC) filled with 50 tonnes of low-radioactivity liquid argon. This is surrounded by inner and outer active veto volumes. Both...
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Neda Darvishi (Royal Holloway University of London)Terrestrial Dark Matter SearchesParallel talk
The QUEST-DMC experiment utilises surface-based superfluid helium-3 bolometers to search for sub-GeV dark matter with ultra-low energy thresholds. This talk presents a study of how different dark matter interaction types impact QUEST-DMC's projected sensitivity. As a central component, we map the non-relativistic EFT operators onto the relativistic bilinear DM-nucleon interactions basis...
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