Speaker
Description
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a direct dark matter detection experiment currently being commissioned at the 4850’ level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. The detector comprises a position sensitive xenon time projection chamber surrounded by an instrumented xenon “skin” and liquid scintillator active vetoes. An active mass of 7 tonnes of xenon is used, from which a fiducial region of mass 5.6 tonnes is formed that has minimal gamma-ray and neutron activity. The radiopure environment has been further ensured through an extensive material screening and selection campaign, together with in-house xenon purification. These background mitigation strategies underpin LZ’s unprecedented projected sensitivity to WIMPs, down to a spin-independent cross section of 1.4 x 10^-48 cm^2 for a 40 GeV/c^2 mass in 1000 live days. This talk will provide an overview of the science reach of the LZ experiment, not just for WIMPs but also for other new physics.
