WIMP Argon Programme
Encyclopedia
The WIMP Argon Programme (WARP) is an experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
, Italy, for the research of cold dark matter
. It aims to detect nuclear recoils in liquid argon
induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) through scintillation
light; the apparatus can also detect ionization so to exclude interactions of photons and electrons.
Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso is a particle physics laboratory of the INFN, situated near the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy, between the towns of L'Aquila and Teramo, about 120 km from Rome. In addition to a surface portion of the laboratory, there are extensive underground facilities...
, Italy, for the research of cold dark matter
Cold dark matter
Cold dark matter is the improvement of the big bang theory that contains the additional assumption that most of the matter in the Universe consists of material that cannot be observed by its electromagnetic radiation and whose constituent particles move slowly...
. It aims to detect nuclear recoils in liquid argon
Argon
Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...
induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) through scintillation
Scintillation
Scintillation can refer to:*Scintillation , atmospheric effects which influence astronomical observations*Interplanetary scintillation, fluctuations of radio waves caused by the solar wind...
light; the apparatus can also detect ionization so to exclude interactions of photons and electrons.
External links
- WARP: Wimp Argon Programme, on the LNGS website.