The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $754,122 Project Grant under the Integrative Activities (CFDA 47.083) program to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) for a "Collaborative Research: GCR: Mineral Detection of Dark Matter" project. This growing convergence research project brings together researchers across engineering, physics, geosciences, and materials sciences with the goal of establishing a framework to assess the feasibility of using mineral detection to study dark matter interactions. The 5-year project will test this novel approach, which leverages the long-term exposure of geological samples to potentially detect dark matter signals that may exceed the sensitivity of conventional experiments. The work will involve developing advanced methods for characterizing nano-scale changes in crystal lattices, as well as dedicated simulation efforts to understand the formation and persistence of dark matter interaction signatures in minerals. Virginia Tech will serve as the prime awardee and may issue subawards to collaborate with other institutions on this research initiative.
Generated 1/28/25, 9:12 AM