No WIMPS here - entrance to Boulby Mine - geograph

The UK Dark Matter Collaboration (UKDMC) (1987–2007) was an experiment to search for

Weakly interacting massive particles Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are hypothetical particles that are one of the proposed candidates for dark matter. There exists no formal definition of a WIMP, but broadly, a WIMP is a new elementary particle which interacts via gra ...

(WIMPs). The consortium consisted of astrophysicists and

particle physicist Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) a ...

s from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, who conducted experiments with the ultimate goal of detecting rare scattering events which would occur if galactic dark matter consists largely of a new heavy neutral particle. Detectors were set up underground in a halite seam at the Boulby Mine in North Yorkshire.

Background

WIMPs are considered prime candidates for

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ...

, which accounts for approximately nine-tenths of the mass of certain

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

, such as the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...

. WIMPs are predicted by several supersymmetric theories of

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

. The

particle detector In experimental and applied particle physics, nuclear physics, and nuclear engineering, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify ionizing particles, such as those produced by nu ...

s used for this experiment are placed 1100 metres below the surface of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

's Boulby mine.

History

UKDMC began in 1987, with principal participants from several notable institutions, including the

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for ...

, the CCLRC's

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atla ...

, and the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

. Funding for the programme was provided by the

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the United Kingdom. It directed, coordinated and funded research in particle physics and astronomy for the people of the UK. Its head office w ...

(PPARC), as well as Cleveland Potash Ltd. which operates the mine where the experiments were conducted. The underground laboratory was officially opened on 18 April 2003, and the experiment ran until 2007 when collaborating institutions and scientists moved on to the related projects ZEPLIN-III and

DRIFT Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** Drift, Cornwall, village ** Drift Reservoir, associated with the village ...

-II.

Experiments

UKDMC operated multiple dark matter detectors and developed techniques for WIMP searches in crystals and xenon. In 1996 they published limits that were obtained using room temperature crystals. NAIAD was an array of NaI(Tl) crystals that ran 2001–2003, collecting 44.9 kg×years of exposure, setting spin-independent and spin-dependent limits on WIMPs. Then the

ZEPLIN A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

series of searches were done.

References

External links

Official site
{{coord, 54.5534, -0.8245, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Experiments for dark matter search Laboratories in the United Kingdom Research institutes in North Yorkshire Dark Matter Collaboration Subterranea of the United Kingdom Underground laboratories