The Riddle of the Invisible Universe

The majority of the matter in our Universe does not shine in the form of the stars, nor is it even made up of atoms. This “dark matter” can be probed in experiments here on Earth, where it can scatter off nuclei, albeit rarely. I will discuss different technologies used in the quest for the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), a favorite dark matter candidate. Of special interest are the xenon-based detectors LUX (Large Underground Xenon) and LZ, its multi-ton-scale, next-generation successor. LUX has the world’s best sensitivity for the WIMP interaction probability across a wide range of WIMP masses, and its result is in conflict with hints of position detection from smaller experiments. I will also describe a complementary detection technique using bubble chambers. I will present the landscape for the discovery potential for dark matter in the next decade. Lastly, in the context of the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE), I will touch upon the neutrino, another elusive particle, one which was already discovered long ago, but for which many properties remain a mystery.