Special Projects
Introduction | Nuclear Fusion | Dark Matter
Dark Matter - XMASS Experiment
Toyama has contributed to the XMASS experiment at the Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, Tokyo University. The Kamioka Observatory has experiments which are working at the frontier of neutrino physics.
The XMASS experiment is designed to detect cold dark matter directly using liquid Xenon. Dark matter has an important role in the universe and if it can be detected it can help to solve the mysteries of the universe.
The XMASS liquid xenon detector is surrounded by photo multiplier tubes and installed into a vacuum chamber. This vacuum chamber is then suspended in a water tank 10m high and 10m diameter, with more photo multiplier tubes on the wall of the water tank. Toyama was involved in designing some of the specialised manipulation systems for the experiment.
For more information about the project and the current status of the experiment see the XMASS website.