The XENON Dark Matter Project:Status of the XENON100 Phase

摘要

The XENON100 experiment aims to detect cold dark matter particles via their elastic collisions with xenon nuclei. An ultra-low background, two-phase time projection chamber with a total of 170 kg of xenon (65 kg in the target region and 105 kg in the active veto) has been installed at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory and is currently in commissioning phase.We review the design and performance of the detector and its associated systems, present status,preliminary calibration results, background prediction and projected sensitivity. With a 6000 kgday background-free exposure, XENON100 will reach a sensitivity of spin-indepedent WIMPnucleon cross section of 2 x 10~(- 45) cm~2by thend of 209. We also discus our plan to upgrade the XENON100 experiment to improve the sensitivity by another order of magnitude by 2012.