
NSF Org: |
PHY Division Of Physics |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | November 29, 2005 |
Latest Amendment Date: | June 27, 2006 |
Award Number: | 0542066 |
Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
Program Manager: |
Jonathan Whitmore
PHY Division Of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
Start Date: | January 1, 2006 |
End Date: | December 31, 2006 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $600,000.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $67,400.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
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History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1523 UNION RD RM 207 GAINESVILLE FL US 32611-1941 (352)392-3516 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
1523 UNION RD RM 207 GAINESVILLE FL US 32611-1941 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | Particle Astrophysics/Cosmic P |
Primary Program Source: |
app-0107 01000809DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01000910DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001011DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
The goal of the proposed research and education is to search for dark matter particles
in the halo of our galaxy, and to increase the number of female physics students at the
University of Florida (UF). The motivation for the search for dark matter comes from our
current understanding of the universe. Over the last ten years, a variety of cosmological
observations have led to the construction of a concordance model of cosmology. In this very
successful model, the universe is made of 4% baryons, which constitute the ordinary matter,
23% nonbaryonic dark matter, which formed all the structures observed today, and 73%
dark energy, a smooth component revealed by its effect on the geometry of the universe.
Understanding the nature of the dark matter and dark energy are the most important
challenges to cosmology. The dark matter could be made of so-called Weakly Interacting
Massive Particles (WIMPs), which could have been produced in a very early phase of the
universe. These Big Bang relics are particularly interesting because they are also predicted
in particle physics theories going beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. They
can be detected in the laboratory by searching for nuclear recoils produced when WIMPs
scatter off nuclei in a target detector. Because the predicted event rates are very low
(smaller than one event per kg detector material and day), and the deposited energies
are tiny, massive, ultra-low background experiments are needed in order to detect these
hypothetical particles. Liquid xenon has many advantages as a dark matter detector. The
high-density and high atomic number allow to build a compact and self-shielded detector,
while the simultaneous measurement of the charge and light signal after a WIMP scatters
off a Xe-nucleus provides an efficient method to discriminate against background noise from
natural radioactivity and cosmic ray interactions. The proposed research has the ultimate
goal of building a large liquid Xe dark matter experiment in an underground laboratory.
A first, 10 kg liquid Xe dark matter prototype has been approved and will be installed at
the Gran Sasso Laboratory in 2006. At the University of Florida, we have built a smaller,
3 kg prototype, with the goal of calibrating the light and charge output of the detector and
establishing its discrimination power at low energies by using a neutron beam at the UF
tandem accelerator.
The main focus of the educational part of the proposal is to mentor female students in
bridging the transition from high school to college and from college to a PhD program on
physics. A series of talks will be given at local high schools with the goal of recruiting female
students to UF and to a yearly 7 week summer program in which they are actively involved
in research in a physics lab. A mentoring program for female undergraduate and graduate
students at UF will be established. It will be organized both as small-group tutoring, by
pairing one undergraduate and one graduate student and having them meet regularly, as
well as in large group activities, such as monthly meetings with a female professor from
UF or abroad, and social events. Such meetings, along with office hours for female physics
students have been offered since fall 2004, and so far were very well attended. The ultimate
goal of the educational component will be to increase the number of women who obtain an
advanced degree in physics, and who will continue to have a successful career in science.
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