Collaborative Research: The Search for Light Dark Matter with DAMIC-M

Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that fills the universe. Although it cannot be seen, its gravity shaped the formation of galaxies and continues to control how stars move within them. Observations show that dark matter makes up about five times more mass than ordinary matter, but its true nature remains unknown. Scientists believe it is made of new particles that interact only very weakly with ordinary matter. This award will support the Dark Matter In CCDs at Modane (DAMIC-M) experiment, which uses a new type of detector to search for these particles. Discovering dark matter would answer one of the most important questions in modern science and would transform our understanding of the universe while opening new directions in particle physics and cosmology. This award will also support hands-on research experiences for students, outreach to local communities and the public, and partnerships that bring science to both classrooms and informal learning settings. The DAMIC-M experiment searches for the tiny signals produced when dark matter particles interact with silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs). CCDs are best known as the imaging sensors used in astronomical telescopes to record faint objects in the night sky. The DAMIC collaboration was the first to use these detectors to search for dark matter at SNOLAB, an underground laboratory located 2 kilometers below the surface near Sudbury, Canada. This award will support the operation of a several-hundred-gram detector at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane in France. DAMIC-M can detect the charge from a single electron by repeatedly measuring the charge stored in each CCD pixel without disturbing it. This unique capability gives the experiment exceptional sensitivity to light dark matter, whose interactions can release only a single electron in silicon. The award will support the leadership and participation of the University of Chicago, the University of Washington, and Johns Hopkins University in commissioning the experiment, collecting and analyzing data, and carrying out the first search for dark matter with a target exposure of about 100 gram-years. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.