History of Sanford Underground Research Facility
The Sanford Underground Research Facility is a research laboratory located deep under the Earth's surface, in the confines of an old mine. The facility is a leader in the search for proof of dark matter’s existence.
The Sanford Underground Research Facility is a leader in the search for dark matter. The experiments carried out at SURF are isolated from background radiation and static in space and are thus ideal for conducting highly sensitive experiments. One of the largest experiments currently underway uses large tanks of xenon to look for the weak interactions of dark matter with the xenon.
Foundation and Funding
In the mid-1960s, a nuclear chemist named Ray Davis realized the potential for deep science and constructed his first experiment in the Homestake Gold Mine. His experiment resided roughly 4,850 feet underground and allowed for highly sensitive physics experiments without interference from cosmic background radiation. Davis received a Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work in physics. In 2001, the Homestake Gold Mine was closed and donated to the state of South Dakota for use in deep science. The National Science Foundation named the site as the preferred site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in 2007. By 2010, the funding for this project stopped and funding form elsewhere was sought. The Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory soon after agreed to support the continued research at SURF.
Current Research Projects
The two major projects occurring at SURF are the LUX experiment and the MAJORANA experiment. The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) experiment uses a large tank of xenon gas to detect the interaction between dark matter and xenon gas. The experiment ran two trials, one for 80 days, the other for 300 days. Neither of those trials proved conclusive, so the LZ (LUX-Zeplin) experiment is currently being reconstructed and will increase the sensitivity of the apparatus by 100 times. The MAJORANA experiment uses enriched germanium crystals to attempt to detect double-beta decay. This would tell physicists if neutrinos are their own anti-particles. This knowledge will supposedly help scientists figure out why humans and the universe exist.
Works Cited
"Deep Science at the Frontier of Physics." Sanford Underground Research Facility. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.
The Sanford Underground Research Facility is a research laboratory located deep under the Earth's surface, in the confines of an old mine. The facility is a leader in the search for proof of dark matter’s existence.
The Sanford Underground Research Facility is a leader in the search for dark matter. The experiments carried out at SURF are isolated from background radiation and static in space and are thus ideal for conducting highly sensitive experiments. One of the largest experiments currently underway uses large tanks of xenon to look for the weak interactions of dark matter with the xenon.
Foundation and Funding
In the mid-1960s, a nuclear chemist named Ray Davis realized the potential for deep science and constructed his first experiment in the Homestake Gold Mine. His experiment resided roughly 4,850 feet underground and allowed for highly sensitive physics experiments without interference from cosmic background radiation. Davis received a Nobel Prize in 2002 for his work in physics. In 2001, the Homestake Gold Mine was closed and donated to the state of South Dakota for use in deep science. The National Science Foundation named the site as the preferred site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in 2007. By 2010, the funding for this project stopped and funding form elsewhere was sought. The Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory soon after agreed to support the continued research at SURF.
Current Research Projects
The two major projects occurring at SURF are the LUX experiment and the MAJORANA experiment. The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) experiment uses a large tank of xenon gas to detect the interaction between dark matter and xenon gas. The experiment ran two trials, one for 80 days, the other for 300 days. Neither of those trials proved conclusive, so the LZ (LUX-Zeplin) experiment is currently being reconstructed and will increase the sensitivity of the apparatus by 100 times. The MAJORANA experiment uses enriched germanium crystals to attempt to detect double-beta decay. This would tell physicists if neutrinos are their own anti-particles. This knowledge will supposedly help scientists figure out why humans and the universe exist.
Works Cited
"Deep Science at the Frontier of Physics." Sanford Underground Research Facility. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.