Simulation of special bubble detectors for PICASSO.

The PICASSO project is a cold dark matter (CDM) search experiment relying on the superheated droplet technique. The detectors use superheated freon liquid droplets (active material) dispersed and trapped in a polymerised gel. This detection technique is based on the phase transition of superheated droplets at about room temperature and ambient pressure. The phase transition is induced by nuclear recoils when an atomic nucleus in the droplets interacts with incoming subatomic particles. This includes CDM particles candidate as the neutralino (a yet-to-discover particle predicted in extensions of the standard model of particle physics). Simulations performed to understand the detector response to neutrons and alpha particles are presented along with corresponding data obtained at the Montreal Laboratory.

Direct dark matter search using large-mass superheated droplet detectors in the PICASSO experiment.

The PICASSO experiment investigates the presence and nature of dark matter in the Universe. The experiment is based on the detection of acoustic signals generated in explosive phase transitions induced by dark matter particles. This technique is an alternative more traditional detection technique like scintillation and ionisation, which are largely employed for dark matter search. One of the main advantages of this technique, besides its sensitivity to very low nuclear recoil energies (few keV), is its excellent background suppression features. A pilot experiment consisting of six superheated droplet detectors (40 g of active mass) is presently taking data at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) at a depth of 2000 m. We discuss the operation, calibration and data acquisition of the experiment and also the ongoing work to increase the sensitivity and the active mass of the detectors.

Synthesis and Mossbauer spectroscopic studies of chemically oxidized ferrocenyl(phenyl)phosphines.

The electrochemical potentials of Fc3-xPPhx, (1-3, x = 0-2) and (FcPPh)n (4) indicate that iodine should oxidize ferrocenyl(phenyl)phosphines. The molar conductivity of solutions of 1-3 increases sharply when the solutions are titrated with iodine, leveling off after the addition of > 2 equiv of oxidant, consistent with formation of 1:1 electrolytes. Diamagnetic salts 6-9 are observed upon addition of a benzene solution of iodine to a benzene solution of 1-4 at ambient temperature in ratios of I2/metallocene ranging from 1:1 to 2:1. Well-resolved 1H and 31P NMR spectra are obtained for 6-8. Absorptions assigned to the I3- anion dominate the UV-vis spectrum of 6-8, whereas characteristic absorptions for [Fc][I3] are absent. Mossbauer spectra of 7-9 reveal isomer shifts consistent with low-spin iron(II) in ferrocene derivatives rather than those in ferricenium ions. Small amounts of low-spin FeIII appear to be present in 6. Taken together, the results suggest that 6-9 are iodophosphonium salts and not ferricenium salts. Diferrocenyl(phenyl)phosphine oxide (5) reacts with iodine to produce a diamagnetic, dark solid 10. Low-spin FeII is observed at 77 and 293 K in the Mossbauer spectra of 10 with no evidence for oxidation of FeII to FeIII. Compound 10 is proposed to be a neutral complex between 5 and I2. Reactions between 5 and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) yield [Fc2P(=O)][DDQ]2 (11). Mossbauer spectroscopy of 11 indicates the presence of a mixture of low-spin FeII and low-spin FeIII at 77 K, suggesting that some electron transfer occurs from 5 to DDQ. The fraction of low-spin FeIII increases at room temperature.