Dr. Laura Molina Bueno was awarded a SNF Ambizione grant

The composition of Dark Matter remains one of the biggest questions of particle physics. Searches for dark sectors complement the ones carried out in direct detection experiments looking for Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Searches for dark sectors target models based on the existence of a new weak force which mediates the interaction between dark matter and the standard model. These mediators can then decay into dark matter particles, leading thus to signals which can be searched in missing energy experiments.

To fully exploit the beam intensity capabilities and accumulate the needed particles on target to cover completely the region suggested by thermal light dark matter, NA64 will require a new trigger/Data Acquisition (DAQ) system. A better readout system will improve the data taking efficiency, minimise the experiment's overall deadtime, and can also improve the granularity of the calorimeters allowing a better physics performance.

More details on the NA64 experiment is available here.