Status of the XENON100 Dark Matter Search

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:11090090,
            doi = {10.48660/11090090},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/11090090},
            author = {Plante, Guillaume},
            keywords = {Particle Physics},
            language = {en},
            title = {Status of the XENON100 Dark Matter Search},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2011},
            month = {sep},
            note = {PIRSA:11090090 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/index.php/pirsa/11090090}}
          }
          

Abstract

The XENON100 detector, currently taking data at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber used to search for dark matter by simultaneously measuring the scintillation and ionization signals produced by nuclear recoils. These two signals allow the three-dimensional localization of events with millimeter precision and the ability to fiducialize the target volume, yielding an inner core with a very low background. As the energy scale is based on the scintillation signal of nuclear recoils, the precise knowledge of the scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils is of prime importance. I will briefly discuss the results of a new measurement of the relative scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils in LXe, Leff, performed with a new single phase detector, designed and built specifically for this purpose. Finally, I will present the recent XENON100 results obtained from 100 live days of data acquired in 2010 and discuss the current status of the experiment and its evolution into XENON1T.