Project 8 Collaboration Meeting

Today was the last day of the Project 8 Collaboration Meeting and Workshop, hosted by Prof. Luiz de Viveiros at Penn State.  The collaboration meeting brought >20 physicists from several institutions in the Project 8 collaboration for a week-long event here at Penn State, in which we discussed the status of the experiment and plans for the future.  We hope that all our guests enjoyed their time at Penn State!

Project 8 Collaboration Meeting at Penn State, Fall 2017

   

Dark Matter Day!

The LUX/LZ and LIGO groups at Penn State team up to celebrate Dark Matter Day! Physics students and postdocs host an information booth to explore the science of dark matter and the experiments looking for it!

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK!

darkmatterday.com

(Thank you to Emily Grace, Ryan Magee, Jacob McLaughlin, Nick Fassino and Corey Herr for preparing the booth and teaching the students about dark matter!)

Dark Matter Day information booth at the HUB - Corey Herr and Nick Fassino (physics undergrads) hosting the booth and "baiting" students with chocolate (dark, obviously!).

Dark Matter Day information booth at the HUB - Corey Herr explaining to undergrads the mysteries of dark matter and the intricacies of the LZ experiment!

LZ Technical Collaboration Meeting at Fermilab

Prof. Luiz de Viveiros is out on Fermilab for the LZ Technical Collaboration Meeting!   The meeting is focused on technical reviews of the various subsystems for the LZ Dark Matter experiment, to make sure everything is on track for an early 2020 start date!

LUX Analysis Workshop at Penn State

Prof. Carmen Carmona hosted the LUX Analysis Workshop from June 5 to 9 at Penn State, a week-long event in which >30 physicists from several institutions in the LUX Dark Matter Experiment met at Penn State (with a few more calling in) to discuss the status, plans and techniques for the analysis of LUX data. The workshop focused on training new students and engaging current collaboration members to push forward the analysis of LUX data following the end of the experiment in late 2016. We hope the event was fruitful and fun, and that all visitors enjoyed their stay at Penn State!

Project 8 Collaboration Meeting at MIT

The Project 8 collaboration gathers at MIT to discuss previous results and future plans, in preparation for the start of our first Tritium run, expected to happen by this Summer. This will be the first use in Tritium of the Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) technique pioneered by Project 8, and is expected to deliver groundbreaking results for future measurements of the neutrino mass!

Prof. Luiz de Viveiros at the Project 8 Collaboration Meeting at MIT, March 20, 2017.

LZ Collaboration Meeting at SLAC

Carmen presents an update on the LZ Dark Matter sensitivity projections at the LZ Collaboration Meeting at SLAC (Menlo Park, CA)!

http://sites.psu.edu/particleastro/2017/03/11/lz-collaboration-meeting-at-slac/

LZ on Penn State News!

"Assistant Professor of Physics Luiz de Viveiros and the LUX detector inside the water tank just before it was filled with 72,000 gallons of ultra-purified water, which helps to shield it from cosmic rays and other radiation that would interfere with a dark matter signal. LUX was removed in 2016, and the tank will be used to house the LUX-ZEPLIN detector."

Our press release got published on the Penn State News!

http://news.psu.edu/story/452721/2017/02/24/next-generation-dark-matter-detector-race-finish-line

This is a note about LZ being given CD3 approval by the Department of Energy (DOE). This is of special importance because it indicates approval of the final design and formally launches construction of the experiment!

Davey 012 – New Lab ready!

Profs Carmen Carmona and Luiz de Viveiros in the first of their new labs at Penn State, Davey 012.

Our group is getting two new labs in the basement of the Davey Lab building, and the first one (Davey 012) is ready for occupancy!