Pop goes the PICO: Using bubble chambers to search for dark matter

Pop goes the PICO: Using bubble chambers to search for dark matter
Alan Robinson, University of Montreal
arobinson
Date and time: Fri, Feb 21, 2020 - 2:15pm
Location: LGRT 419B
Category: ACFI Seminar
Abstract:

While bubble chambers, the breakthrough technology for particle physics in the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, have long since been superseded by other detectors in accelerator experiments, they have found new life in the hunt  or dark matter. With a dual energy and stopping power threshold, they are intrinsically insensitive to the most prevalent radioactive backgrounds faced by other searches for dark matter. I will introduce these continuously superheated bubble chambers, explain key features of their design, theoretical understanding, and the state of the PICO program with PICO-40L in final commissioning and the ton-scale PICO-500 beginning construction.