PEOPLE
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
TO HUNT
FOR DARK MATTER AT THE GRAN SASSO LABORATORIES
An interview with Cristian Galbiati, professor of physics at Princeton University and
co-ordinator of the DarkSide experiment.
The DarkSide experiment, installed in 2011 at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories, has just presented the first results on the effectiveness of an innovative technology for the detection of dark matter, which makes use of argon extracted from underground deposits. We interviewed Cristian Galbiati, coordinator of the international collaboration.
The INFN’s Gran Sasso National Laboratories, protected by 1400 metres of mountain rock that shields them from cosmic rays, are currently conducting various experiments to identify dark matter. Other projects are being conducted in various laboratories around the world. What is the difference in these experiments?
The purpose of the detectors currently used for the direct identification of dark matter is to detect the collisions of dark matter particles with the nuclei of the material used as a target mass or, in a few, limited cases, collisions with the electrons.
Of the various different technologies used, bolometric detectors using pure crystals as the target mass stand out for their low detection threshold; however, the very demanding and expensive techniques needed to build and qualify these detectors make building large detectors with this technique unattractive.
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NEWS
Research
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International Collaboration
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Nomination
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The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two of its Consolidator Grants to two researchers at the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). The grants, designed to support excellent European research teams, have been awarded to Piero Giubilato, researcher at the Padua division of the INFN and Padua University, and Alessandro Bacchetta, from the INFN’s division in Pavia and University of Pavia. ...
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