Eur. Phys. J. A (2006) 27: 57-62
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-08-007-8

Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics II

From DAMA/NaI to DAMA/LIBRA at LNGS

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata” and INFN, I-00133, Roma, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” and INFN, I-00185, Roma, Italy
³ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I-67010, Assergi, Italy
⁴ IHEP, Chinese Academy, P.O. Box 918/3, 100039, Beijing, PRC
⁵ Scuola di Specializzazione in Fisica Sanitaria, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, I-00133, Roma, Italy

^* e-mail: Francesco.Nozzoli@roma2.infn.it

Received: 20 June 2005
Accepted: 20 December 2005
Published online: 22 February 2006

Abstract

DAMA is an observatory for rare processes based on the development and use of various kinds of radiopure scintillators; it is operative deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. Several low background setups have been realized and many rare processes have been investigated. In particular, the DAMA/NaI setup ( ≃ 100kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) has effectively investigated the model-independent annual modulation signature; the data of seven annual cycles (total exposure of 107731kg × d) have offered a 6.3σ C.L. model-independent evidence for the presence of a Dark Matter particle component in the galactic halo. Some of the many possible corollary model-dependent quests for the candidate particle have also been investigated. At present, the second-generation DAMA/LIBRA setup ( ≃ 250kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) is in operation deep underground. This paper summarizes the main aspects.