Speaker
Description
The ANAIS-112 experiment has completed nearly eight years of continuous data taking, aiming to test the annual modulation signal reported by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration, using the same NaI(Tl) target and detection technique. Located at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory, ANAIS-112 has accumulated over 800 kg·yr of exposure, achieving excellent long-term stability and background control. In this talk, I will present the six-year results from ANAIS-112, which lead the international, model-independent effort to test the DAMA/LIBRA signal, and are compatible with the absence of modulation and incompatible with DAMA/LIBRA for a sensitivity above 4σ, with the potential to reach 5σ level by the end of 2025. Systematics affecting the comparison will also be reviewed, particularly those related to the response of detectors to nuclear recoils.
Beyond ANAIS-112, the ANAIS+ project proposes a significant technological upgrade: the replacement of conventional PMTs with SiPMs operated at low temperatures. This innovation is expected to reduce radioactive backgrounds, lower the energy threshold, and improve light collection efficiency -thereby increasing the experiment’s sensitivity to low-mass dark matter. Furthermore, it will allow for a more robust and systematics-independent comparison with DAMA/LIBRA, while opening new opportunities for searches of spin-dependent interactions and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering.
