WARP (Wimp ARgon Programme)

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WARP (Wimp ARgon Programme)

• Search for Dark Matter in the form of WIMPs ? ?
  best candidate ? lightest SUSY particle
• New technique able to provide the sensitivity
  required to span the parameters space currently
  allowed in the context of the SUSY models
  (hundred tons year) ? ? LAr TPC technology (see
  ICARUS)

• WIMP interactions produce nuclear recoils (E lt
  100 keV). They can be discriminated from g and b
  signals (radioactivity) by the relative amount
  produced atomic excitation (scintillation) and
  ionization.
• for nuclear recoils, ionization is heavily
  suppressed

Technique based on the simultaneous detection of
primary scintillation and ionization in LAr.
Ionization electrons are drifted in the LAr and
then extracted in the gas phase by an electric
field. They are accelerated in the gas to produce
a second light signal. The relative amplitude of
the two signals allows to discriminate WIMP
signals from background.