EDUCATION:

"Laurea” 1977, University of Naples, Italy
Ph.D. 1982, University of Geneva, Switzerland

RESEARCH:

My research is currently focused on the search for Dark Matter with the XENON experimental program. The existence of Dark Matter  is undisputed, yet its nature remains mysterious and unexplained. The explanation is likely to involve physics beyond the standard model of particle physics (BSM). Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are one class of dark matter candidates, naturally predicted in BSM theories. WIMPs direct detection experiments such as XENON aim to measure the signals produced in a detector on Earth as a result of a WIMP-nucleon scattering. To be sensitive to such a rare event, an experiment must  rely on a very large target mass, extremely low background and effective signal-to-noise discrimination. XENON uses liquid xenon as WIMP target and detection medium in a 3D position sensitive Time Projection Chamber (TPC).  With TPCs  of increasing mass and reduced background, the XENON project, carried out at the Italian Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS), continues to be at the forefront of direct detection experiments worldwide. Results from the XENON100 detector XENON100, have yielded  the most stringent limits on both spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross-section. The search for dark matter with XENON100 is still ongoing. Meanwhile the collaboration is preparing the next generation experiment, XENON1T. Projected to start in 2015, XENON1T will initially use a TPC with 3.5 tons of liquid xenon designed to give a factor of 100 improvement in sensitivity over than of XENON100, after two years of data. XENON is funded by the National Science Foundation.

An active R&D program is an integral part of my research. The present experiments  aim to measure with increasing precision the properties of liquid xenon under different particle irradiation,  both for the benefit of the XENON program but also for other applications where combined calorimetry and imaging are of interest. The experiments are carried out in the Cyclotron building of the Columbia University Nevis Laboratories in Irvington, NY. In my laboratory on the 10th floor of the Pupin physics building, on the Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, another project , also of interest to XENON, is  currently  in the last phase of development. It is an Atom Trap  aiming at measuring traces of Krypton in Xenon at  better than 1 part per trillion. The Columbia Atom Trap Trace Analysis was selected as a Major Research Infrastructure project, funded by NSF and Columbia University.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

E. Aprile, T. Yoon, A. Loose, L. W. Goetzke, T. Zelevinsky " An Atom Trap Trace Analysis System for Measuring Krypton Contamination in Xenon Dark Matter Detectors", arXiv:1305.6510 [physics.atom-ph].

E. Aprile et al. (XENON100), “Limits on spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections from 225 live days of XENON100 data”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 021301 (2013).

E. Aprile et al. (XENON100 Collaboration), “The XENON100 Dark Matter Experiment”, Astropart. Phys. 35, 573-590 (2012).

E. Aprile et al., “Measurement of the Scintillation Yield of Low-Energy Electrons in Liquid Xenon”, Phys. Rev. D86, 112004 (2012).

E. Aprile et al. (XENON100 Collaboration), “Dark Matter Results from 100 Live Days of XENON100 Data”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 131302 (2011).

G. Plante et al., “New Measurement of the Scintillation Efficiency of Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils in Liquid Xenon”, Phys. Rev. C84, 045805 (2011).

E. Aprile et al. (XENON100 Collaboration), “Implications on Inelastic Dark Matter from 100 Live Days of XENON100 Data”, Phys. Rev. D84, 061101 (2011).

E. Aprile et al. (XENON100 Collaboration), “Study of the electromagnetic background in the XENON100 experiment”, Phys. Rev. D83, 082001 (2011).

E. Aprile and T. Doke, “Liquid Xenon detectors for particle physics and astrophysics”, Rev. of Mod. Phys. Vol. 82, July-Sept. (2010).

 E. Aprile et al. (XENON100 Collaboration), “First Dark Matter Results from the XENON 100 Experiment”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 131302 (2010).

E. Aprile et al. (XENON10 Collaboration), "First Results from the XENON10 Dark Matter Experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory"  Physical Review Letter 100, 021303 (2008).