An analysis of the sensitivity of a low pressure time projection chamber to a directional anisotropy due to WIMP interactions

The Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) collaboration is a dark matter direct detection effort which develops TPCs to observe and reconstruct nuclear recoils generated by incident particles. If some of these recoils are the result of dark matter interactions, we can in theory observe an anisotropy in the direction of these recoils which is consistent with the galactic halo models of dark matter. Such an observation would serve as convincing evidence that these incident particles have an extrasolar origin. In this thesis I discuss the workings of a TPC known as the 4-shooter, the analysis used to identify nuclear recoil candidates, and the mathematics to quantify the anisotropy of a distribution. I then discuss the ways in which the pressure of the target gas in the TPC affects rejection power, and construct a framework to determine an optimal operating pressure for the 4-shooter and future DMTPC detectors.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zayas, Evan M

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Peter Fisher.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100322

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/100322