Dark Matter Search Results Published in Science
COLLEGE STATION —
Nearly two months after unveiling their detection of two events with characteristics matching those of the particles physicists believe make up dark matter, scientists from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment — including physicists from Texas A&M University — celebrated another milestone Thursday (Feb. 11): publication in the prestigious journal Science.
The CDMS experiment, located a half-mile underground at the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota and managed by the United States Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, is one of several major international collaborations that has been searching for dark matter since 2003. The experiment uses very sophisticated detector technology and advanced analysis techniques to enable cryogenically cooled (almost absolute zero temperature at -460 degrees F) Germanium and Silicon targets to search for the rare recoil of dark matter particles.
The CDMS collaboration features more than 50 scientists from 18 international institutions, including Texas A&M’s Dr. Rupak Mahapatra. An assistant professor of physics at Texas A&M since 2008 and a recent recipient of a DOE Early Career Research Award, Mahapatra serves as principal investigator for the Texas A&M team that currently is developing the larger, more advanced detectors needed for the project’s next phase, dubbed the SuperCDMS experiment.
The group’s findings, detailed in the paper Dark Matter Search Results from the CDMS II Experiment spearheaded by Southern Methodist University’s Jodi Cooley, appear in the Feb. 11 edition of Science Express.
To learn more about the project and Texas A&M’s role in it, please see http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/mahapatra/.
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Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@science.tamu.edu or Dr. Rupak Mahapatra, (979) 845-8624 or mahapatra@physics.tamu.edu
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