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Post Info TOPIC: Gran Sasso National Laboratory
Blobrana


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DAMA Dark Matter Experiment
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Title: Can dark matter - electron scattering explain the DAMA annual modulation signal?
Author: R. Foot

The ~ keV scintillations observed in the DAMA/NaI and DAMA/Libra experiments might be due to dark matter - electron scattering. Such an explanation is now favoured given the stringent constraints on nuclear recoil rates obtained by LUX, SuperCDMS and other experiments. We suggest that multi-component dark matter models featuring light dark matter particles of mass ~ MeV can potentially explain the data. A specific example, kinetically mixed mirror dark matter, is shown to have the right broad properties to consistently explain the experiments via dark matter - electron scattering. We point out that this electron scattering interpretation of DAMA can be tested in large xenon experiments (LUX, XENON1T,...), as well as in low threshold experiments (CoGeNT, CDEX, C4, ...) by searching for annually modulated electron recoils.

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Blobrana


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RE: Gran Sasso National Laboratory
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Title: The Gran Sasso muon puzzle
Author: Enrique Fernandez-Martinez, Rakhi Mahbubani

We carry out a time-series analysis of the combined data from three experiments measuring the cosmic muon flux at the Gran Sasso laboratory, at a depth of 3800 m.w.e. These data, taken by the MACRO, LVD and Borexino experiments, span a period of over 20 years, and correspond to muons with a threshold energy, at sea level, of around 1.3 TeV. We compare the best-fit period and phase of the full muon data set with the combined DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA data, which spans the same time period, as a test of the hypothesis that the cosmic ray muon flux is responsible for the annual modulation detected by DAMA. We find in the muon data a large-amplitude fluctuation with a period of around one year, and a phase that is incompatible with that of the DAMA modulation at 5.2 sigmas. Aside from this annual variation, the muon data also contains a further significant modulation with a period between 10 and 11 years and a power well above the 99.9% C.L threshold for noise, whose phase corresponds well with the solar cycle: a surprising observation for such high energy muons. We see no corresponding long-period oscillation in the stratospheric temperature data.

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Blobrana


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Dark Matter: Experiment to shed light on dark particles

In a man-made cavern, deep beneath a mountain, scientists are hoping to shed light on one of the most mysterious substances in our Universe - dark matter.
The Gran Sasso National Laboratory seems more like a Bond villain's lair than a hub for world class physics. 
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Blobrana


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The DarkSide of Gran Sasso

Dark energy and dark matter together present one of the most challenging mysteries of the universe. While explaining the first seems to be within the reach of only cosmologists and astrophysicists, the latter appears to be accessible also to particle physicists. One of the most recent and innovative experiments designed for the direct detection of dark-matter particles is DarkSide, a prototype for which - DarkSide 10 - is currently being tested in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in central Italy. The first detector for physics - DarkSide 50 - is scheduled for commissioning underground in December this year.
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Blobrana


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Lead from ancient shipwreck will line Italian neutrino experiment.

Around four tonnes of ancient Roman lead was yesterday transferred from a museum on the Italian island of Sardinia to the country's national particle physics laboratory at Gran Sasso on the mainland. Once destined to become water pipes, coins or ammunition for Roman soldiers' slingshots, the metal will instead form part of a cutting-edge experiment to nail down the mass of neutrinos.
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Blobrana


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The Gran Sasso National Laboratory, a particle physics research centre 15 km from L'Aquila in central Italy, has survived intact the earthquake that destroyed the historic town on 6 April, and killed at least 180 people.

"Gran Sasso labs and experiments have not suffered consequences of the earthquake. But of course many staff have had their houses destroyed, like so many others who live in the region" - Eugenio Coccia, the centre's director.

Scientific experiments are being monitored, but no major experimental work will take place until after the Easter holiday. Normal scientific work will begin Tuesday 14 April.

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