[Overview] [Detector] [Backgrounds] [Signal] [Sensitivity] [Broader Impact]

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) Experiment presents a program for the construction and deployment of a large two-phase liquid/gas xenon dark matter detector and water shield, to be installed in 2008 at a Sanford Deep Underground Laboratory at the Homestake Mine, South Dakota.

A large detector is required to not only set such a sensitivity limit, but also to accumulate WIMP statistics in a reasonable time frame if a signal is detected. The LUX program will also help develop the technologies required for 1–10 ton dark matter detectors.

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Liquid Xenon both scintillates and becomes ionized when hit by particles (i.e. photons, neutrons and potentially dark matter). The ratio of scintillation over ionization energy caused by the collision provides a way of identifying the interacting particle. The leading theoretical dark matter candidate, the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), could be identified in this way.