Direct detection of dark matter with the PICO Experiment and the PICO-0.1 calibration chamber
Dark matter detection remains one of the main unresolved problems in physics. Accounting for almost 85% of all the matter density in the Universe, it was inferred through many astronomical observations, but no dark matter particle has been detected yet. The PICO experiment has this objective as its purpose, using the bubble chamber in order to do so. PICO can detect extremely low-energy interactions in its superheated liquid detectors, located in the SNOLAB underground laboratory in Sudbury, Ontario. PICO has and has had multiple dark matter search detectors, as well as small detectors used to perform calibrations and tests. PICO-0.1 is a calibration chamber located at the University of Montreal and was used for the studies presented in this thesis. In this thesis, data and analysis of measurements made with PICO-0.1 are presented. A study of the Seitz threshold - theoretical energy threshold for an event to occur in a bubble chamber - is made, with the monoenergetic reaction 35Cl(nth,p)35S in C2ClF5; the study of the monoenergetic 35S recoil, directly inside the detector, is presented. Furthermore, the detection of proton recoils in PICO-0.1 is detailed; first through the analysis of the acoustic signal of the proton produced by 35Cl(nth,p)35S, and second through elastic scattering of neutrons and high energy gamma rays on hydrogen in C2H2F4.
WIMPs PICO Dark matter Bubble chamber Seitz threshold Direct detection Proton recoils