Leading Xenon Researchers unite to build next-generation Dark Matter Detector

Dark matter makes up 85% of the matter in the Universe, but its nature remains a mystery. The direct identification of the dark matter particle is amongst the highest priorities in science and also one of the most challenging. The primary science goal of the new joint observatory is to reach a sensitivity for detecting dark matter in our galaxy by at least a factor of 10 beyond that of the current generation of detectors.

The current xenon-based experiments XENONnT and LUX-ZEPLIN will start their first science runs in 2021, to lead the race to detect the first signs of new particles and interactions. These experiments employ 5.9 and 7.0 tonnes of liquid xenon for the search, respectively. The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment operates at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in the USA. The XENONnT experiment is located at the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. DARWIN is the evolution of the XENON program and includes additional groups, focusing on several R&D aspects required for the much larger detector.

Beyond its unparalleled sensitivity to dark matter, the detector’s large mass and unprecedented low background level will also enable world-leading searches for additional signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics that would similarly revolutionize our understanding of the universe. In particular, the secondary science goal will be the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in xenon, shedding light on the nature of the neutrino and the imbalance of matter and antimatter in the universe. The observatory will also perform searches for other rare processes and particles such as axions, hypothetical particles that might be emitted from the Sun. It will also measure neutrinos created in the Sun, the Earth’s atmosphere, and potentially those from Galactic supernovae.

The new multi-tonne liquid xenon detector will combine the most successful technologies employed in rare-event searches with xenon detectors, including those developed for XENONnT and LUX-ZEPLIN, and from targeted R&D including that supported under DARWIN.

After a very successful first joint workshop [1] in April 2021, 104 research group leaders from 16 countries have signed a memorandum of understanding on July 6, 2021. Scientific cooperation has now begun to realize this next-generation rare event observatory.

The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) and Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) are distributing this press release on behalf of the DARWIN and LZ collaborations. The location of the proposed experiment has yet to be determined.

[1] Details of the Workshop and the Full List of Signatories can be viewed at
https://indico.cern.ch/event/1028794/

The scientists that have signed the memorandum of understanding on July 6, 2021 are:

Daniel Akerib, SLAC National Accelerator Lab, United States

Elena Aprile, Columbia University, United States

Henrique Araujo, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Francesco Arneodo, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Laura Baudis, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Anwar Bhatti, University of Maryland, United States

Tomasz Biesiadzinski, SLAC National Accelerator Lab, United States

Amos Breskin, Weizmann Institute, Israel

Ethan Brown, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, United States

Ranny Budnik, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Sergey Burdin, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom

Carmen Carmona-Benitez, Pennsylvania State University, United States

Auke Colijn, University of Amsterdam / Nikhef, Netherlands

Jan Conrad, Stockholm University, Sweden

Luiz de Viveiros, Pennsylvania State University, United States

Michal Patrick Decowski, Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

James Dobson, University College London, United Kingdom

Guido Drexlin, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany

Klaus Eitel, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany

Alfredo Davide Ferella, University of L'Aquila and INFN-LNGS, Italy

Peter Fischer, Heidelberg University, Germany

Henning Flaecher, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Richard Gaitskell, Brown University, United States

Michelle Galloway, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Chamkaur Ghag, University College London, United Kingdom

Luca Grandi, The University of Chicago, United States

Carter Hall, University of Maryland, United States

Stephanie Hansmann-Menzemer, Universität Heidelberg, Germany

Scott Hertel, U. Massachusetts, Amherst, United States

Markus Horn, Sanford Underground Research Facility, United States

Michele Iacovacci, Università di Napoli "Federico II" and INFN-Napoli, Italy

Christina Ignarra, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, United States

Yoshitaka Itow, ISEE/KMI Nagoya University, Japan

Asher Kaboth, Royal Holloway, United Kingdom

Alvine Kamaha, University at Albany, SUNY, United States

Yeongduk Kim, Institute for Basic Science, South Korea

Hans Kraus, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Lawrence Krauss, Origins Project Foundation, United States

Vitaly Kudryavtsev, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Hagar Landsman, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Rafael Lang, Purdue University, United States

Jaison Lee, Institute for Basic Science, Korea

Douglas Leonard, IBS Center for Underground Physics, South Korea

Cecilia Levy, UAlbany SUNY, United States

Manfred Lindner, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Germany

Hugh Lippincott, UCSB, United States

Isabel Lopes, Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP), Portugal

Wolfgang Lorenzon, University of Michigan, United States

Steffen Luitz, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, United States

Carla Macolino, Università degli studi dell'Aquila and INFN-LNGS, Italy

Joern Mahlstedt, Stockholm University, Sweden

Aaron Manalaysay, United States

Teresa Marrodán Undagoitia, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany

Kai Martens, Kavli IPMU, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Julien Masbou, Subatech, France

José Matias-Lopes, University of Coimbra, Portugal

Daniel McKinsey, University of California, Berkeley, United States

Kentaro Miuchi, Kobe University, Japan

Maria Elena Monzani, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, United States

Brianna Mount, Black Hills State University, United States

Alexander Murphy, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Harry Nelson, UCSB, United States

Dave Newbold, STFC/Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, United Kingdom

Francisco Neves, LIP, Portugal

Kaixuan Ni, University of California San Diego, United States

Uwe Oberlack, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Igor Ostrovskiy, University of Alabama, United States

Kimberly Palladino, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Mila Pandurovic, Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Serbia

Bjoern Penning, University of Michigan, United States

Guillaume Plante, Columbia University, United States

Tina Rosalia Pollmann, Nikhef/UvA, Netherlands

Gabriella Sartorelli, Bologna University and INFN-Bologna, Italy

Richard Schnee, South Dakota Mines, United States

Hans-Christian Schultz-Coulon, Heidelberg University, Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Germany

Marc Schumann, University of Freiburg, Germany

Luca Scotto Lavina, LPNHE, France

Marco Selvi, INFN-Bologna, Italy

Petr Shagin, Rice University, United States

Tom Shutt, SLAC, United States

Hardy Simgen, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Germany

Vladimir Solovov, LIP-Coimbra, Portugal

Peter Sorensen, United States

Ion Stancu, University of Alabama, United States

Tim Sumner, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Matthew Szydagis, UAlbany SUNY, United States

Dominique Thers, Subatech/In2p3-CNRS, France

Daniel Tovey, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Gian Carlo Trinchero, INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico and INFN-Torino, Italy

Roberto Trotta, Imperial College London and SISSA, United Kingdom/Italy

Christopher Tunnell, Rice University, United States

Belina von Krosigk, Universität Hamburg, Germany

Antonin Vacheret, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Kathrin Valerius, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany

Juijen (Ryan) Wang, University of Alabama, United States

Christian Weinheimer, University of Münster, Germany

Frank Wolfs, University of Rochester, United States

Michael Wurm, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Jingke Xu, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States

Masaki Yamashita, Kavli IPMU The University of Tokyo, Japan

Liang Yang, University of California San Diego, United States

Minfang Yeh, Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States

Guido Zavattini, University of Ferrara and INFN-Ferrara, Italy

Kai Zuber, TU Dresden, Germany