Main Research Projects
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We are the PI institution for Micro-X, a sounding rocket
payload consisting of an X-ray telescope with an effective
area of 200 cm^2 focusing X-rays onto an array of 128
superconducting Transition-Edge Sensors (TES). The
exquisite energy resolution of these detectors (a
resolving power of 1000 at 2 keV) will allow us to study
bright, extended X-ray astrophysical sources with
unprecedented detail. Our first target is the Puppis A
supernova remnant.
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Over the last decade we have been able to prove through
experiment that 96% of the Universe is made of invisible
matter and fields of which we know very little about. 25%
of our Universe is made up of an as-of-yet undiscovered
substance called "Dark Matter". We are members of the
Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment seeking to
directly detect dark matter using cryogenic detectors.
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Neutrino Physics
We are exploring applications of our dark matter and X-ray
detectors for neutrino physics. The detectors we are
developing for dark matter are well suited to study
neutrinos through coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering
(CNS), a well predicted but never seen standard model
interaction. Our new SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment will be
the first experiment to detect neutrinos from the Sun
through CNS. We are studying ways to search for sterile
neutrinos and other beyond-the-standard-model physics
using our dark matter experiments and with future
dedicated neutrino experiments.
