Abstract:

Recent searches for zero neutrino double beta decay (the EXO experiment) and interactions of dark matter particles with ordinary matter (the LUX experiment) have firmly established liquid xenon TPC detectors as the state of the art in searches for these rare events. Despite their success, and in spite of their essential successor experiments (nEXO and LZ, respectively), the liquid xenon TPC is unlikely to be the ideal technology to unambiguously establish a discovery of these rare processes. In this talk, I will present the argument behind these statements, and suggest the R&D direction we must undertake in parallel with the liquid xenon TPC program.