What is SuperCDMS?
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search is a collaboration of 18 institutions from the U.S., Canada, and Spain. Our experiment, named SuperCDMS, is currently located in the Soudan Iron Mine in Soudan, MN. We go deep under the earth to shield ourselves from cosmic-ray radiation so that we can use our detector technology to "listen" for the passage of dark matter through the earth. Dark matter is currently believed to be a non-luminous form of matter which makes up 85% of the matter in the universe. Southern Methodist University is a member of the collaboration. Please find here more information about the experiment.
Opportunities at SMU
Prof. Jodi Cooley is the Principal Investigator for the SMU SCDMS group. She is a member of the CDMS, SuperCDMS, and GEODM collaborations, all of which employ solid-state cryogenic dark matter technology. SMU is involved in several key aspects of these current and future experiments, including: data analysis and analysis leadership, background characterization and rejection. Our group is also involved in the design of shielding for the next generation dark matter experiment that our collaboration is planning for deployment in the SNOLAB underground facility in Canada.
Latest News
- May 2011: The CDMS and Edelweiss Collaborations publish results from a combined analysis in Physical Review D. See our preprint (arXiv:1105.3377)
- March 26, 2010: The CDMS-II Collaboration results from final data appear in the journal Science. See the abstract.
- February 11, 2010: The CDMS-II Collaboration results from final data appear online in Science. See the abstract.
- December 17, 2009: Prof. Cooley presents the results of the final exposure of the CDMS II experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. (Video) (Slides)