DM-Ice: Current Status and Future Prospects

• Main Author: Pettus, Walter C.
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2015
• Subjects: Instrumentation and Detectors physics.ins-det; Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics astro-ph.CO; Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics astro-ph.IM; High Energy Physics - Experiment hep-ex; FOS Physical sciences; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1510.00378; https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.00378

DM-Ice is a program towards the first direct detection search for dark matter in the Southern Hemisphere with a 250 kg-scale NaI(Tl) crystal array. It will provide a definitive understanding of the modulation signal reported by DAMA by running an array at both Northern and Southern Hemisphere sites. A 17 kg predecessor, DM-Ice17, was deployed in December 2010 at a depth of 2457 m under the ice at the geographic South Pole and has concluded its 3.5 yr data run. An active R&D program is underway to investigate detectors with lower backgrounds and improved readout electronics; two crystals with 37 kg combined mass are currently operating at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. We report on the final analyses of the DM-Ice17 data and describe progress towards a 250 kg DM-Ice experiment. : Talk presented CIPANP2015. 9 pages, 6 figures