26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Session

AIP GAP: Cosmic Rays & Dark Matter

7 Dec 2026, 11:30

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Conveners

AIP GAP: Cosmic Rays & Dark Matter

• Theresa Fruth (University of Sydney)

285. Cosmic-ray muons for predicting the weather

Danish Khan (The University of Sydney)

07/12/2026, 11:30

AIP | Astroparticle Physics (GAP)

Invited talk

Cosmic-ray muons are produced in the atmosphere, and their flux at ground level depends on atmospheric conditions such as temperature and pressure. This makes ground-level muon measurements a potential source of information about the state of the atmosphere, presenting a unique opportunity for improvements to weather forecasting.

Simulation work by collaborators William Luszczak and Joseph...

42. Where do cosmic rays go to die?

Roland Crocker (Australian National University)

07/12/2026, 12:00

AIP | Astroparticle Physics (GAP)

Contributed Oral

Most ~1-10 GeV hadronic cosmic rays accelerated in star-forming galaxies will eventually escape the relatively dense ISM gas and leak into the circumgalactic medium (CGM). What happens to them thereafter and do they do anything important in this low density environment? I will show that these CRs are, in fact, important: using a new semi-analytic model we have developed over the last few years...

73. Precision Modeling of Prompt Cosmogenic Backgrounds for the DarkSide-20k Experiment​

Sanjay Sharma Poudel (University of Houston)

07/12/2026, 12:15

AIP | Astroparticle Physics (GAP)

Contributed Oral

DarkSide-20k is a dark matter direct detection experiment operating a dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (TPC) at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). To reach its design sensitivity, the experiment requires a cosmogenic background contribution of less than 0.01 events over a 200 ton-year exposure. This strict requirement needs precise characterization of prompt fast...

199. Characterisation and Simulation of Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) Response in the SABRE South Experiment

Sharry Kapoor (The University of Sydney)

07/12/2026, 12:30

AIP | Astroparticle Physics (GAP)

Contributed Oral

Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) are central to the SABRE South experiment’s
ability to detect rare, low-energy events, such as potential dark matter interac-
tions in ultra-pure NaI(Tl) crystals. To correctly interpret what the detector
sees, we need simulations that faithfully reproduce how our PMTs respond to
real signals. This work presents the comparison of the simulated PMT wave-
forms...

594. Optical calibration simulations and analysis for the SABRE South active veto PMTs

Julian Canale

07/12/2026, 12:45

AIP | Astroparticle Physics (GAP)

Contributed Oral

SABRE South is a rare-event physics experiment designed to test the long-standing annual modulation signal reported by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment. Both experiments use ultra-pure NaI(Tl) crystals operated in low-background detector environments. Unlike DAMA/LIBRA, SABRE South features an active liquid scintillator veto system surrounding the crystals, instrumented with photomultiplier tubes...