Contributor info: Prof. Elisabetta Baracchini

F. D. Amaro, E. Baracchini, L. Benussi , S. Bianco, C. Capoccia, M. Caponero, D. Santos Cardoso, G. Cavoto, A. Cortez, I. A. Costa, E. Dané, G. Dho, F. Di Giambattista, E. Di Marco, G. D’Imperio, F. Iacoangeli, H. P. L. Jùnior, G. S. P. Lopes, G. Maccarrone, R. D. P. Mano, R. R. M. Gregorio, D. J. G. Marques, G. Mazzitelli, A. G. McLean, A. Messina, C. M. B. Monteiro, R. A. Nobrega, I. Fonseca Pains, E. Paoletti, L. Passamonti, S. Pelosi, F. Petrucci, S. Piacentini, D. Piccolo, D. Pierluigi, D. Pinci, A. Prajapati, F. Renga, R. J. C. Roque, F. Rosatelli, A. Russo, J. M. F. dos Santos, G. Saviano, N. J. C. Spooner, R. Tesauro, S. Tommasini, S. Torelli

SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 019 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The CYGNO project for the development of a high precision optical readout gaseous TPC for directional Dark Matter search and solar neutrino spectroscopy will be presented. It is to be hosted at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. CYGNO peculiar features are the use of sCMOS cameras and PMTs coupled to GEMs amplification of a helium-based gas mixture at atmospheric pressure, in order to achieve 3D tracking with head tail capability and background rejection down to O(keV) energy, to boost sensitivity to low WIMP masses. The latest R&D results within the CYGNO project will be discussed along with the underground installation and operation of a 50 l prototype, soon to be followed by a O(1) m3 experiment demonstrator in 2024-2026. The latest results on the negative ion drift operation at atmospheric pressure within CYGNO optical readout approach will be illustrated, which is the aim of the ERC Consolidator Grant project INITIUM.

Elisabetta Baracchini

SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 002 (2023) · published 3 July 2023 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The importance of directly detect and experimentally probe the nature of Dark Matter (DM) is universally and incontrovertibly recognised as one of the most compelling tasks of today's fundamental physics. Directional DM searches aim at developing experimental techniques that can give access to the measurement of the incoming direction of the DM particle. This can provide a correlation with an astrophysical source that no background whatsoever can mimic and offers an unique key for a positive, unambiguous identification of a DM signal.