PandaX

The Particle and Astrophysical Xenon Detector, or PandaX, is a dark matter detection experiment at China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) in Sichuan, China. The experiment occupies the deepest underground laboratory in the world, and is among the largest of its kind. The Particle and Astrophysical Xenon Detector, or PandaX, is a dark matter detection experiment at China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) in Sichuan, China. The experiment occupies the deepest underground laboratory in the world, and is among the largest of its kind. The experiment is run by an international team of about 40 scientists, led by researchers at China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The project began in 2009 with researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shandong University, the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (zh), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Researchers from the University of Maryland, Peking University, and the University of Michigan joined two years later. The PandaX team also includes members from the Ertan Hydropower Development Company. Scientists from University of Science and Technology of China, China Institute of Atomic Energy and Sun Yat-Sen University joined PandaX in 2015. PandaX is a direct-detection experiment, consisting of a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) detector. The use of both liquid and gaseous phases of xenon, similarly to the XENON and LUX experiments, allows the location of events to be determined, and gamma ray events to be vetoed. In addition to searching for dark matter events, PandaX is designed to detect Xe-136 neutrinoless double beta decay. PandaX is located at China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), the deepest underground laboratory in the world at more than 2,400 metres (1.5 mi) below ground. The depth of the laboratory means the experiment is better shielded from cosmic ray interference than similar detectors, allowing the instrument to be scaled up more easily. The muon flux at CJPL is 66 events per square meter per year, compared with 950 events/m2/year at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, home of the LUX experiment, and 8,030 events/m2/year at the Gran Sasso lab in Italy, home to the XENON detector. The marble at Jinping is also less radioactive than the rock at Homestake and Gran Sasso, further reducing the frequency of false detections. Wolfgang Lorenzon, a collaborating researcher from the University of Michigan, has commented that 'the big advantage is that PandaX is much cheaper and doesn't need as much shielding material' as similar detectors.