What is the Dark Matter, which makes 85% of the matter in the Universe? We have been asking this question for many decades and used a variety of experimental approaches to address it,  with detectors on Earth and in space. Yet, the nature of dark matter remains a mystery.  Direct detection of a signal from dark matter particles such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS) in a terrestrial detector will provide the most direct evidence for their existence. It will be a ground-breaking discovery in physics and cosmology.  Among the variety of dark matter detectors, liquid xenon time projection chambers have shown to be the most sensitive, thanks to a combination of very large target mass, ultra-low background, and excellent signal-to-noise discrimination.  Experiments based on this technology have led the field for more than a decade. I will focus on the XENON project and its prospects to continue to be at the forefront of dark matter direct detection in the coming decade.

About the speaker:

Elena Aprile holds the distinguished title of Centennial Professor of Physics at Columbia University. She pioneered the XENON project and has been its spokesperson since its inception in 2004. Under her leadership, the XENON Collaboration has developed four cutting-edge generations of liquid xenon detectors, all of which have been  at the forefront of dark matter direct detection searches. Prof. Aprile's accolades include the Enrico Fermi Prize (2021) and the Berkeley-Lancelot Prize (2019). She has been invited to deliver numerous prestigious lectures, such as the C.S. Wu Honorary Colloquium, Schrödinger Colloquium, Princeton University Hamilton Honorary Lecture, and the Simons Foundation Lecture, among others. Furthermore, she has been inducted into the United States National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was honored with the Medal of Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.