The Particle Astrophysics group studies dark matter and neutrinos, which respectively make up most of the mass and particle content of the universe!
About
Astronomical measurements indicate that ~25% of the mass in the universe is made of dark matter, particles which have never been observed on earth. This is more than 5 times as much as all the particles we do know about! Our group works on direct detection of dark matter, via dark matter particle-nucleus scattering, in ultra-sensitive detectors in terrestrial laboratories
Neutrino oscillations remain the only confirmed physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Our group’s contributions to discovering neutrino oscillations were recognized with the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. We work on studying the symmetry properties of neutrinos using neutrino oscillations. These may explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, without which we wouldn’t be here!
Research Centers:
We work on dark matter direction detection experiments at underground laboratories for particle astrophysics: SNOLAB, SURF, and LNGS. We work on neutrino oscillation experiments at J-PARC, and on detector development for future neutrino experiments at CERN. On campus, we work on detector development to apply techniques from particle astrophysics to medical physics and public health.
Members
Faculty:
| Professor Jocelyn Monroe | Professor |
| Dr Asher Kaboth | Lecturer |
| Dr Luke Pickering | Lecturer |
| Dr Daria Santone | Research Associate |
| Dr Alexander Deisting | Research Associate |
| Dr Paolo Agnes | Visiting Academic |
Publications
Selected Publications:
- Projected WIMP Sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Experiment
LZ Collaboration (D. Akerib et al.)
arXiv:1802.06039 - Search for CP violation in Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations by the T2K experiment with 2.2E21 protons on target
T2K Collaboration (K. Abe et al.)
hys.Rev.Lett. 121 (2018) no.17, 171802 - First results from the DEAP-3600 dark matter search with argon at SNOLAB
DEAP-3600 Collaboration (P. A. Amaudruz et al.)
Phys.Rev.Lett. 121 (2018) no.7, 071801 - DarkSide-20k: A 20 tonne two-phase LAr TPC for direct dark matter detection at LNGS
C. E. Alseth et al.
Eur.Phys.J.Plus 133 (2018) 131 - Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements
M. Leyton, S. Dye, J. Monroe
Nature Commun. 8 (2017) 15989
For more publications click here.
PhD thesis:
- Calculation and Measurement of the Rayleigh Scattering Length of the Scintillation Wavelength of Liquid Argon for Dark Matter and Neutrino Detectors Williams, E., 18 Dec 2018
- It Came From Outer Space: Position Reconstruction in the DEAP-3600 Dark Matter Detector Seeburn, N., 22 Jan 2018
- Searching for Dark Matter with DEAP-3600 Butcher, A., 2016
- An Analysis of a Dataset from a Prototype Dark Matter Detector and the Design, Simulation and Construction of a New Detector Eggleston, R., 2016
Collaborations
Social media:
Funding Agencies:
