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Dark Matter Detector Simulator

Hunt for invisible particles in a virtual underground laboratory

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What Is Dark Matter Detection?

Dark matter makes up 85% of all mass in the universe, yet it's completely invisible. Detectors buried deep underground use liquid xenon to catch the incredibly rare moment when a dark matter particle bumps into an ordinary atom — like feeling an invisible cosmic wind.

Why does this matter? Understanding dark matter would revolutionize physics and reveal the hidden structure of our universe. The LZ experiment — the world's most sensitive detector — is 3 million times more sensitive than early detectors.

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📚 Glossary

WIMP
Weakly Interacting Massive Particle — a leading theoretical candidate for dark matter. WIMPs would have mass comparable to heavy atoms but interact only through gravity and the weak nuclear force, making them extremely hard to detect.
Liquid Xenon TPC
Time Projection Chamber filled with ultra-pure liquid xenon. When a particle interacts with xenon, it produces both light (scintillation) and free electrons, allowing 3D reconstruction of the event location and energy.
Nuclear Recoil
The bounce of an atomic nucleus after being struck by an incoming particle. Dark matter searches look for xenon nuclei recoiling from WIMP collisions, which produce characteristic light and charge signals.
CEvNS
Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering — a process where a neutrino interacts with an entire atomic nucleus rather than individual nucleons. First observed in 2017, it creates signals that can mimic dark matter.
Neutrino Fog
The background of neutrino signals (especially from solar neutrinos) that becomes indistinguishable from potential dark matter signals at very low energies, creating a fundamental sensitivity floor for detectors.
Cross Section
A measure of the probability that two particles will interact. In dark matter physics, it quantifies how likely a WIMP is to scatter off a nucleus. Measured in square centimeters (cm²) or picobarns.
Background Events
Non-dark-matter interactions that can mimic a WIMP signal, including cosmic rays, radioactive decay from detector materials, and neutrino interactions. Reducing backgrounds is key to detector sensitivity.
Scintillation
The emission of light when a particle deposits energy in a material. In liquid xenon detectors, both the initial flash (S1) and a delayed signal from drifted electrons (S2) are recorded.
Fiducial Volume
The inner region of the detector where measurements are most reliable, away from edges where background radiation from detector walls is higher.
Discrimination
The ability to distinguish nuclear recoils (potential dark matter signals) from electron recoils (backgrounds) based on the ratio of light to charge signals.
GeV/c²
Gigaelectronvolt divided by speed of light squared — a unit of mass used in particle physics. One proton has a mass of about 0.938 GeV/c². WIMPs are hypothesized to range from a few GeV/c² to several TeV/c².
SURF
Sanford Underground Research Facility — located in Lead, South Dakota, nearly one mile (1,478m) underground in the former Homestake Gold Mine. Houses the LZ experiment.

🏆 Key Figures

Fritz Zwicky (1933)

First proposed the existence of dark matter (dunkle Materie) in 1933 based on observations of the Coma galaxy cluster

Vera Rubin (1970s)

Provided compelling evidence for dark matter through detailed measurements of galaxy rotation curves showing stars orbit faster than visible matter alone could explain

Rick Gaitskell (2022-present)

Spokesperson for LZ experiment at Brown University, led the collaboration that achieved 3-million-fold improvement in detector sensitivity over his career

Chamkaur Ghag (2024)

International spokesperson for LZ based at UCL, led key aspects of the WIMP search analysis and detector development

Ray Davis Jr. (1968)

Nobel Prize-winning neutrino physicist whose decades-long Homestake experiment in the same South Dakota cavern now houses LZ

Dan McKinsey (2012)

Co-founded the LZ experiment and pioneered liquid xenon detector technology at UC Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Hugh Lippincott (2024-2025)

UCSB experimental physicist and key LZ collaborator who helped set bounds on WIMP dark matter properties

💬 Message to Learners

Dark matter is one of the greatest mysteries in science — we know it's out there shaping the universe, but we've never caught it directly. Every null result from experiments like LZ isn't a failure; it's a step closer to understanding what dark matter truly is. The detector you're simulating represents decades of human ingenuity and the collaboration of 250 scientists from 37 institutions. Perhaps you'll be inspired to join the next generation of dark matter hunters. Remember: the universe is mostly invisible, and discovering what hides in the dark could reshape everything we know about reality.

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