Research Article

The DRIFT Directional Dark Matter Experiments

CYGNUS 2011: Third International Conference on Directional Detection of Dark Matter, CYGNUS, Aussois, France.

E. Daw^a1, A. Dorofeev^a2, J.R. Fox^a3, J.-L. Gauvreau^a3, C. Ghag^a4, L.J. Harmon^a3, J.L. Harton^a2, M. Gold^a5, E.R. Lee^a5, D. Loomba^a5, E.H. Miller^a5, A.St.J. Murphy^a4, S.M. Paling^a1, J.M. Landers^a3, N. Phan^a5, M. Pipe^a1, K. Pushkin^a3, M. Robinson^a1, S.W. Sadler^a1, D.P. Snowden-Ifft^a3, N.J.C. Spooner^a1, D. Walker^a1 and D. Warner^a2

^a1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, UK

^a2 Department of Physics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

^a3 Department of Physics, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041, USA

^a4 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK

^a5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, NM 87131, USA

Abstract

The current status of the DRIFT (Directional Recoil Identification From Tracks) experiment at Boulby Mine is presented, including the latest limits on the WIMP spin-dependent cross-section from 1.5 kg days of running with a mixture of CS₂ and CF₄. Planned upgrades to DRIFT IId are detailed, along with ongoing work towards DRIFT III, which aims to be the world’s first 10 m³-scale directional Dark Matter detector.

(Online publication February 15 2012)