DMWG Seminar by Dr. Maria Manuela Saez on December 19, 2022

Please enter the seminar report here!There are many ongoing experiments searching for direct scattering between DM and nuclei all over the world. Of course, the material, location, and detailed setups are different among projects. One of them, the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration has long been reported for the continuous detection of the annual modulation of signals which should be attributed to DM interactions. However, the reports are in tension with all other experiments.

In order for testing the origin of the reported signals, we need further investigations with independent experiments. ANDES (Agua Negra Deep Experiment Site) provides us with such an opportunity. The experiment is planned to be built deep underground in the Andes Mountains at the border between Argentina and Chile. It should prove not only the DM interactions, but also various neutrino physics, nuclear astrophysics, and biological topics. The
One important feature of the experiment is that it is built in the Southern hemisphere and close to the equator compared to other experiments. We can predict a higher amplitude of the annual modulation signals corresponding to DM interactions with these setups. Also, there are no nearby nuclear power plants hence we can expect a lower neutrino background which means better sensitivity. On the other hand, we might have to be careful about the geo-neutrino background at a lower energy regime.

The project is now under construction and investigating the best target materials and realistic equipment. It should start operations in not the far future. Stay tuned for various new insights!

Reported by Nagisa Hiroshima