SABRE

Dark Matter Experiment.

Results from astronomical observations in the last decades have provided overwhelming evidence for the existence of a large amount of dark matter.

The majority of the mass in our universe is composed of non-luminous, non-baryonic matter : this is what we call ‘dark matter’.

Despite dark matter comprising most of our universe, its nature remains unknown. To directly detect dark matter and identify its nature is one of the greatest goals in modern physics.

SABRE (Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection Experiment) aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles via their scattering off nuclei.

The SABRE scientific program includes the deployment of two similar detectors: one, already in operation, is in the Northern Hemisphere, located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), in Italy, which is situated beneath the Gran Sasso Mountain. The extensive underground facilities include three main barrel vaulted experimental halls, protected by around 1.4 km of rock. To detect dark matter, the detectors (an array of high radio-purity thallium-doped sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) scintillating crystals deployed in a liquid scintillator) need to be protected from interference from cosmic radiation.

The second detector in this search for dark matter will be built, deep underground, within the former Stawell Gold Mine.

The first laboratory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory is the next step in the global search to discover the elusive nature of dark matter - the double-measurement will improve the reliability of any results, disentangling any subtle effect due to cosmic muons, as the seasonal modulation between the two hemispheres are always the opposite of one another.