MO-P7-5 16:30

Simulation Of PICASSO Detectors*, Marie-Hélène Genest , Université de Montréal — PICASSO is a cold dark matter search experiment based on superheated droplet technique. In this kind of detectors, freon droplets (the active material) are dispersed and trapped in a polymerized gel. The liquid-to-vapour phase transition occurs when a nucleus inside a droplet recoils with sufficient energy after an interaction with an incoming particle. The acoustic wave produced by the transition is recorded by piezo-electric sensors placed on the detector walls. Dark matter candidates such as the neutralino (predicted in supersymmetry, an extension of the Standard Model) would also induce such events in the detector. The talk will focus on simulations of the detector that were performed in order to understand the detector's response to alpha particles and neutrons, the main backgrounds to the dark matter signal in this type of detector. These simulations will be compared with experimental data obtained at the Montréal Laboratory.

* This work is being supported by FQRNT

* This work is being supported by FQRNT