Phillip Barbeau
University of Chicago
Note Different Date
Thursday, June 26, 2008
1:00 pm in SPL 3rd Floor Lounge
Early Results from the COGENT Large-Mass Ultra Low-Noise Germanium Detector:
From Neutrinos to Dark Matter and Back Again
Abstract: The COGENT collaboration has developed a large-mass, ultra low-noise germanium detector for use in neutrino and astroparticle physics. The p-type point contact (p-pc) detector hybridizes the large mass (~1kg) of a conventional germanium spectrometer with the low threshold (~300 eV) of a semiconductor x-ray detector. Applications include coherent neutrino scattering, light WIMP searches, and double-beta decay. First results from a recent underground deployment (300 mwe) will be presented that conclusively rule out a standard WIMP halo as the explanation for the DAMA annual modulation. Limits are also imposed on the claim the modulation is due to pseudoscalar dark matter particles. Other novel dark matter experiments will be described. The status of a reactor experiment to look for as yet unobserved coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering and its application to nuclear reactor monitoring will be discussed. Lastly, the role of this detector in the Majorana double beta decay experiment will be briefly covered.