An assessment of the sensitivity of a low pressure time projection chamber to the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils/
Name
867862041-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
31.21 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1eb96f3aec4c3fcf1e5ca7e51e90fba9
Author(s)
Henderson, Shawn Wesley
Advisor(s)
Peter Fisher and Jocelyn Monroe.
Date Issued
2013
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Direct directional detection of dark matter could provide an unambiguous observation of dark matter due to the predicted directional anisotropy of dark matter particles in the galactic reference frame. The Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) collaboration develops TPCs with optical readout whose goal is the detection of the sense and direction of nuclear recoils generated by dark matter interactions with carbon and fluorine atoms in low pressure CF 4 gas, from which the direction of the incident dark matter particle can be inferred. The TPC contains a mesh based amplification stage that facilitates the two-dimensional imaging of nuclear recoil tracks using CCD cameras. Reconstructing the direction of recoils has been a subject of intensive R&D over the past several years, culminating in the design and construction of a current generation detector, the "4-shooter." The 4-shooter is prototyping several new detector techniques for a larger (1 m3 ) detector. The third dimension of recoils will be reconstructed in this detector using PMTs and the timing of induced charge signals in the detector amplification region. The 4-shooter's performance has being studied extensively on the surface of the Earth at MIT using alpha particles, low energy neutrons, and X-rays. This thesis reports on surface commissioning data taken with the 4-shooter.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-219).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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