Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS)

CDMS is a Department of the Kavli Insitute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University and of the Particle Physics & Astrophysics Division at SLAC.

A bit more than 80% of the matter in the universe is not made of the ordinary matter (baryons) we experience in everyday life. The existence of this exotic matter has been confirmed through its gravitational effects, but it does not emit light, and for that reason we refer to it as dark matter. The origin of dark matter is one of the most intriguing scientific questions of our times. There are many candidates predicted by theories, including Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and axions, which are the favorites of particle physicists.

The CDMS science is of interest to particle physicists, astrophysicists and cosmologists. This exciting experiment is an example of how research in different fields contribute to the pursuit of a fundamental scientific question. CDMS searches for Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs) using cryogenic Germanium detectors and transition edge sensors operating at superconduting temperatures. CDMS advanced instrumentation employs state-of-the-art technology resulting from developments within condensed matter and particle physics.

Currently we are working on the upgrade of the CDMS experiment, called SuperCDMS at the Soudan mine in Minnesota. We expect to deploy 5 detector towers with a total of 15kg by mid-2011. We plan to increase the sensitivity to Dark Matter candidates by about a factor of 10 by going to a deeper site in Canada (SNOLAB) where we will deploy 100 Kg of Ge detectors that will begin operations in 2014. The future beyond that is to develop a 1-ton scale Ge detector five years later.