Title: LUX, LZ20 and the Race to Detect WIMP Dark Matter

Abstract:

Overwhelming cosmological and astrophysical evidence suggests that the dominant mass in the universe is in the form of as-yet- unidentified dark matter. The most favored candidate for dark matter is weakly interacting particles (WIMPs), which are also a generic prediction in supersymmetry. WIMPs in our galaxy can be measured by their interactions in detectors operated deep underground with backgrounds from radioactive and cosmic-rays suppressed by some 10 orders of magnitude from ambient levels. Recent advances in detectors based on liquified noble elements promise a radical increase in the sensitivity of these experiments, and will allow a nearly complete test of supersymmetric dark matter in the next decade. Such efforts are complementary to the LHC. The LUX experiment is constructing a 300 kg liquid Xe-based detector that will be operated in site of Ray Davis' original solar neutrino experiment in the Homestake mine in South Dakota. I will discuss LUX, and also LZ20, a 20 ton experiment proposed as part of the integrated suite of experiments of DUSEL. LZ20 would be an ultimate direct dark matter detection experiment, closing the available WIMP search window on Earth that is finally limited by the signal from coherent scattering of astrophysical neutrinos.