The U.S. Department of Education awards Black Hills State University (BHSU) $997,522 for research in high-energy physics.
School officials said the project spans nearly four years and plans to focus on the direct detection of dark matter—an invisible substance that scientists believe make up most of the mass in our universe.
Specifically, the project aims to advance the search for dark matter through data analysis of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment. It also focuses on ensuring construction materials used in next-generation detection experiments only contain limited amounts of background radiation, which could overwhelm dark matter signals. The project also seeks to increase the participation of Native American undergraduate students in science at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).
Dr. Brianna Mount is an associate professor of physics, the director of the BHSU Underground Campus and the project lead. "The exciting recent results from LZ make it the world-leading WIMP-detector,” said Mount. “This award allows BHSU faculty and staff to increase their contributions to the LZ experiment, allows BHSU to continue to be a leader in low-background counting for XLZD, which is the next-generation WIMP search experiment, and strengthens its strong partnership with Berkeley Lab.”
BHSU will collaborate with SURF and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the research.
Researchers will conduct their work at the BHSU Underground Campus (BHUC), a specialized underground laboratory operated by BHSU and housed on the 4850 level of SURF. The facility is equipped to detect extremely low levels of radioactivity and will play a key role in improving the sensitivity of dark matter experiments.
The grant is just one of 39 research projects totaling $36 million for energy-related topics.