The Argon Dark Matter experiment is a ton-scale double phase argon Time Projection Chamber designed for direct Dark Matter searches. It combines the detection of scintillation light together with the ionisation charge in order to discriminate the bac
kground (electron recoils) from the WIMP signals (nuclear recoils). After a successful operation on surface at CERN, the detector was recently installed in the underground Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc, and the commissioning phase is ongoing. We describe the status of the installation and present first results from data collected underground with the detector filled with gas argon at room temperature.
The Argon Dark Matter (ArDM-1t) experiment is a ton-scale liquid argon (LAr) double-phase time projection chamber designed for direct Dark Matter searches. Such a device allows to explore the low energy frontier in LAr. After successful operation on
surface at CERN, the detector has been deployed underground and is presently commissioned at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC). In this paper, we describe the status of the installation and present first results on data collected in gas phase.
We have constructed a liquid Argon TPC detector with fiducial mass of 150 kg as a part of the R&D program of the next generation neutrino and nucleon decay detector. This paper describes a study of particle identification performance of the detector
using well-defined charged particles (pions, kaons, and protons) with momentum of ~800 MeV/$c$ obtained at J-PARC K1.1BR beamline.
The Argon Dark Matter (ArDM-1t) experiment is a ton-scale liquid argon (LAr) double-phase time projection chamber designed for direct Dark Matter searches. Such a device allows to explore the low energy frontier in LAr with a charge imaging detector.
The ionization charge is extracted from the liquid into the gas phase and there amplified by the use of a Large Electron Multiplier in order to reduce the detection threshold. Direct detection of the ionization charge with fine spatial granularity, combined with a measurement of the amplitude and time evolution of the associated primary scintillation light, provide powerful tools for the identification of WIMP interactions against the background due to electrons, photons and possibly neutrons if scattering more than once. A one ton LAr detector is presently installed on surface at CERN to fully test all functionalities and it will be soon moved to an underground location. We will emphasize here the lessons learned from such a device for the design of a large LAr TPC for neutrino oscillation, proton decay and astrophysical neutrinos searches.
ArDM-1t is the prototype for a next generation WIMP detector measuring both the scintillation light and the ionization charge from nuclear recoils in a 1-ton liquid argon target. The goal is to reach a minimum recoil energy of 30,keVr to detect recoi
ling nuclei. In this paper we describe the experimental concept and present results on the light detection system, tested for the first time in ArDM on the surface at CERN. With a preliminary and incomplete set of PMTs, the light yield at zero electric field is found to be between 0.3-0.5 phe/keVee depending on the position within the detector volume, confirming our expectations based on smaller detector setups.
This document reports on a series of experimental and theoretical studies conducted to assess the astro-particle physics potential of three future large-scale particle detectors proposed in Europe as next generation underground observatories. The pro
posed apparatus employ three different and, to some extent, complementary detection techniques: GLACIER (liquid Argon TPC), LENA (liquid scintillator) and MEMPHYS (WC), based on the use of large mass of liquids as active detection media. The results of these studies are presented along with a critical discussion of the performance attainable by the three proposed approaches coupled to existing or planned underground laboratories, in relation to open and outstanding physics issues such as the search for matter instability, the detection of astrophysical- and geo-neutrinos and to the possible use of these detectors in future high-intensity neutrino beams.
