Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 1
Sean Paling Science & Technology Facilities Council
(STFC) & Boulby Mine
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 2
This Talk.....
Boulby Underground Science Facility: Status & Future Plans
• Boulby Mine and the Deep Underground Science facility
• DRIFT Directional Dark Matter Detector Programme
• Other deep underground science studies... • SKY: Cosmic rays, aerosols & climate • Ultra-low background gamma spectroscopy • Muon tomography for deep geological surveying • Geomicrobiology / Astrobiology studies • Misc Geology / Geoscience • Etc.
Facility expansion
plans
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 3
Boulby Mine A working potash and rock-salt
mine on the North East of England. Operated by Cleveland Potash Ltd. Major local employer - ~1000
direct and 4000 indirect employment.
Plymouth
London
Birmingham
Liverpool
Newcastle
Edinburgh
Inverness
Belfast
Dublin
Redcar
Hartlepool
Peterlee
Middlesbrough
Billingham
Newton Aycliffe
Stockton
Darlington
Middlesborough!
Whitby!
Staithes!
York!
Potash View from Staithes
Deepest mine in Britain – 1100m deep (2805+/-45 mwe) – Cosmic ray muon flux reduced by ~106
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 4
Over 40 kms of tunnel mined each year (now >1,000kms in total)
Long lived roadways cut in salt (NaCl) – giving access to potash (KCl) levels just above
Boulby salt is very low in natural radioactive backgrounds (U/Th,Rn)
Geology
Heliminer
Plan of excavations
Mine Shafts
Palmer Lab
Boulby Mine
Typical roadway
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 5
ZEPLIN-III
DRIFT-II
SKY
‘JIF’ Science Facilities (opened 2003). • ‘Palmer Lab’: a 100+m, fully equipped underground lab. Power, internet and telephone communications, lifting, air conditioning / filtration, clean room. • ‘John Barton’ surface facility: Workshop, facility monitoring, office and administration, PPE, storage, chemistry lab, changing rooms.
Boulby Science Facilities
A QUIET place in the Universe
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 6
Low background gamma spectrometery Facility and detector assembly room
Access to interesting deep underground geology
Liquid Nitrogen Generation and small projects room
Main hall: SKY ZERO study if ionisation induced aerosol nucleation & growth
DRIFT-II – Directional Dark Matter detection programme
Views from in & around the Palmer Lab...
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 7
What Makes Boulby Special? Requirements for an underground laboratory...
Low Backgrounds • Deep (to shield from cosmic rays) • Low background rock/lab (and/or adequate shielding)
Plenty of Laboratory space
Easy access for equipment
Proximity of services / civilisation
Good infrastructure + support
1.1 km deep (2,805 +/-45 mwe) CR muons attenuated by ~106
(4.09±0.15)!10-8 cm-2s-1
Salt = low in U/Th (67±6/125±10ppb) " Low gamma & neutron backgrounds " Low Radon (<3Bq/m3)
>1000 m2 existing lab space & excellent potential for expansion.
Via mine shaft (5m diam. – 2!2!2m cage) + Transport underground
20 min " Whitby, Saltburn 1 hr " York, Leeds, Middleborough < 5 hrs " London, Manchester etc.
• JIF Underground & surface facilities • Wide-ranging support from mine operators (Cleveland Potash Ltd)
A unique science / industry partnership
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 8
Science @ Boulby
8
Active contributor in both ILIAS and ASPERA EU lab programmes
SKY-ZERO – Ongoing Danish/UK. Cosmic Rays & climatology study
Also...
High sensitivity Gamma Spectroscopy studies – material selection
Misc. Geology & Geoscience Studies
Future Science... • DRIFT Directional Dark Matter Search • Misc low background science study support (DM-Ice, SuperNEMO etc).
• SKY-II: Cosmic rays / climate study. • Gamma spectroscopy for material screening & environment studies • Muon Tomography for geological structure monitoring... • Geomicrobiology / Astrobiology • Misc. Geology / Geoscience Studies.
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 9
Status: Operating @ Boulby since 2001. New 3 year (2011-2014) NSF funding for expanded ops & R&D....
Directional DM detection – providing the most powerful direct detection signature
A DIRECTIONAL Dark Matter Detector.
DR
IFT-IId @ B
oulby
Our movement within the Dark Matter Halo
Directional detection
Sheffield, Edinburgh, Occidental College, New Mexico, Colorado State, Boulby
Dark matter Halo
Rotation of visible matter WITHIN the Dark Matter halo
Vsun~230kms-1
Tvis~240Myrs
WIMP Wind
DRIFT @ Boulby...
Real data Simulated data
WIMP flux
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 10
CS2 = Electronegative. Molecules drifted instead of electrons keeping diffusion to <0.7mm over 50cm
"X & "Y from anode & grid wire hits. "Z from timing & pulse shape.
The DRIFT Technique
See talks here by D.Loomba & D.Snowden-Ifft for details & latest results
~32kV
Low pressure (40Torr) CS2/CF4 gas target used to extend WIMP tracks to few mm.
A Negative Ion Drift Time Projection Chamber (NI-TPC) with 40 Torr CS2/CF4 fill gas.
60ms-1
Electric Field Lines
Grid ~3kV
Grid Wires
Anode wires
Gas Gain ~500
2mm
1cm
MWPC Readout
2mm 1cm (cathode to anode)
2mm
(+/- 2.8kV)
(0kV)
Drift direction
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 11
Left drift Volume Right drift
Volume
0.8m3 fiducial volume 40 Torr (30/10) CS2/CF4 fill gas (33g F)
MWPC and vetos
(1.5m)3 vacuum vessel
Fe55 source
Central Cathode (~32kV)
Preamps & grouping
1m2 MWPCs 512 20µm anodes 2 x 512 100µm grids
DRIFT-II @ Boulby
Now 0.9µm aluminized Mylar film
Right MWPC
Left MWPC
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 12
Goal: Explore/develop DRIFT as a viable detector for directional detection (SI & SD).
Sensitivity: • Unblind SD limit from 47.4 days of DRIFT-II livetime - not far behind non-direction detectors. • But for WIMP detection – orders of magnitude improvement needed – gaseous detectors will need to be LARGE...
R&D Issues • Detector/infrastructure scale-up issues • Cost reduction (DRIFT-II ~$100k) • Stability, robustness and longevity • Develop / optimise readout and operating pressures. • Demonstrate / reduce energy thresholds • Demonstrate / improve directionality & head/tail sensitivity • Reduce backgrounds – Radon Progeny Recoils (RPRs)
Currently (<50 keV)
See talks by D.Loomba & D.Snowden-Ifft for details & latest results
Directionality & Head/Tail down
to <50 keV
DRIFT Current Work...
Astropart. Phys. 35 (2011) 397.
SD Limit DRIFT-IId
(See papers)
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 13
Status... • Already funded to build & test 1m3 DRIFT-IIe to test DRIFT-III technology (MPWCs, film cathode etc) • DOE/NSF bids submitted for 1-3 year programme of DRIFT-III module construction & operation
Towards DRIFT-III
Thin foil cathode Interleaved (anode / cathode) readout.
DRIFT-III: A next-generation Directional Dark Matter detector @ Boulby SD limits
2.4 m3.yr 10.4 m3.yr
30.4 m3.yr
• Multiple DRIFT volume segments per vessel • Single plane MWPCs – viewing both sides • Larger 2!2m readout planes, 50cm drift distance • Better low cost & noise electronics – each wire. • Thin (0.9µm) film textured cathode. E.g. 6 segments = 24m3 fiducial. vol, 4kg CS2/CF4 ! 30 x increase in sensitivity vs. DRIFT-II
DRIFTIIe work at Oxy
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 14
Boulby Facility Expansion... Excavations for a new >1000m2 lab housing DRIFT-III and beyond...
Excavations offered at zero cost by mine operators
DRIFT-III Bay
Drawings by Dave Warner Colorado State University
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 15
Other Deep Underground Science @ Boulby
2011: 3 year STFC funding granted to develop multi- disciplinary science studies @ Boulby
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 16
The SKY Project An Danish/UK study of the effect of ions on aerosol nucleation in the atmosphere - the 1st study in an ultra-low background environment.
‘Cosmo-climatology’: Ionisation from cosmic rays may have an influence on cloud
production and mean cloud clover
SKY @ Boulby
How are aerosols formed?!Radioactive source to simulate cosmic rays Aerosols forming and
growing
Do Cosmic Rays play a role in aerosol formation & climate?
Participants: Boulby, Manchester, Oxford, Birmingham, Danish National Space Institute.
SKY-ZERO: Primary science runs @ Boulby completed 2008-2010. Next-generation detector ‘SKY-II’ now in preparation... Expected operation at Boulby 2013-2014
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 17
The SKY Project Results so far... SKY-ZERO results shows that ionisation IS important.... • Aerosol nucleation rate increases significantly with ionisation present. • There is also a ‘neutral’ nucleation mechanism at work. • Background ionisations levels reduced to <2 ions.cm-3
Next steps: A bigger & better SKY experiment (SKY-II) under contruction for operation at Boulby 2013-2014. • Better trace gas & aerosol monitoring, ion measurement to <1 ion/cm3, larger chamber (785l) with temp. stabilisaton • Chamber funding already secured (Danish Space Institute). Construction underway. • UK working group established: STFC-RAL, Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford Universities.
SKY-II
Results: Aerosol nucleation vs. Ion production!
Journal of Aerosol Science (2012), pp. 75-85!
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 18
Why Muon tomography? Why Boulby? - Potential for cheap, reliable, practical, real-time long-term monitoring of deep structures - - Boulby site & skills uniquely well suited for development & testing: appropriate depths, ease of access, infrastructure & experstise, known geology
Development of a powerful new techniques for deep 3D geological surveying - using cosmic ray muon particles...
Applications? - Deep geological repository monitoring. - Overburden survey in mining?...
STFC-Boulby, Durham,
Sheffield, Bath, Fermilab
Muon detector array
Already proven for shallower uses:
- Volacanos & pyramids interiors
Image from Mt Asama volcano study: Earth & planetary Science Letters. 263 (2007) 104-113
Technique already proven
for volcano interiors
Muon Tomography: potentially of significant value for many deep geological mapping applications
Cosmic ray muons
Muon Tomography @ Boulby
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 19
Muon Detector Deployment @ Boulby • Existing sites of seismic survey instrumentation • 110V power supply • Safe, protected space • Cross coast boundary (~200m cliff drop, 50-200m depth sea)
Approx line of Coast 1km
Muon Tides Site:
Muon Tomography Development & Testing @ Boulby
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 20
Muon Tides Project
Muon tides detector
Surface tests: Detector development in laboratory
Start-up study: a simple muon detector aiming to detect change in overburden due to the eb & flow of the tides.
Deployment site visit
Sam Telfer. Sheffied
Muon tides site: ~750m, below sea.
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 21
Geomicrobiology / Astrobiology Towards an International Subsurface Astrobiology Facility (ISAL) – linked to the Palmer Laboratory at Boulby...
Edinburgh, Boulby, NASA,
CPL (etc)
A base for studies of life in Boulby rock – with relevance to limits of life on earth and life on other planets
From Dark Matter to Dark Life!? Over 90% of life on Earth is in the deep sub-surface...
An important ‘Mars Analogue site’ – with geology & conditions to allow explorations & astrobiology technique & instrumentation development
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 22
Geomicrobiology / Astrobiology
Palmer Lab site chosen for Boulby astrobiology lab (ISAL)
Boulby facility provides: - Clean, contamination-free labspace - Supervised access to interesting geology - Technology and physics expertise
What Next? - Outfit chosen Palmer lab ISAL site - Seek start-up funding for facility and pilot studies (2012/2013) - Expand and develop activites...
Sean Paling STFC / Boulby IDM2012 Chicago, July 2012 23
Summary....
• The DRIFT directional dark matter detector programme continues at Boulby
• DRIFT-II operation and R&D underway. Looking now to scale up, initially with detector redisign: DRIFTIIe & DRIFT-III
• Science at Boulby is diversifying. Now 1 year in to 3 year programme to develop new multi-disciplainary projects
o SKY: Cosmic rays, Aerosols & Climate o Ultra-lowbackground gamma spectroscopy o Muon tomography for deep geological survey o Astrobiology / Geomicrobiology o etc
• Facility expansion planned. Excavation of >1000m2 space offered by mine operators to support science
Want to do science @ Boulby? Contact us: [email protected]
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