Dark matter search with the SABRE experiment

TL;DR

The SABRE experiment aims to detect dark matter by observing annual modulation signals using ultra-pure NaI(Tl) detectors with active background rejection, with initial proof-of-principle results and detailed background simulations presented.

Contribution

This work introduces the SABRE Proof of Principle setup and detailed Monte Carlo simulations to validate the detector's background reduction capabilities.

Findings

Installation of the PoP detector is underway at LNGS.

Monte Carlo simulations incorporate measured radio-purity levels.

Initial background measurements and veto efficiency tests are planned.

Abstract

The SABRE (Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection) experiment will search for an annually modulating signal from dark matter particles in our Galaxy using an array of ultra-pure NaI(Tl) detectors surrounded by an active scintillator veto to further reduce their intrinsic background. The first phase of the experiment is the SABRE Proof of Principle (PoP), a single 5kg crystal detector operated in a liquid scintillator filled vessel at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). The PoP installation is underway with the goal of running in 2018 and performing the first in situ measurement of the crystal background and testing the veto efficiency, thus validating the SABRE concept. GEANT4--based Monte Carlo simulations have been developed to estimate the background in the PoP. The most recent simulation is based on measured or predicted radio-purity levels of the various detector components and includes detailed versions of the detector part geometries. The second phase of SABRE will be twin arrays of NaI(Tl) detectors operating at LNGS and at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia. By locating detectors in both hemispheres, SABRE will minimize seasonal systematic effects. In this work the SABRE PoP activities at LNGS and results from the most recent Monte Carlo simulations will be presented.