Dark Matter Music from CDMS

Model of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search which translates actual data into sound and light. We have not yet had a dark matter interaction, but we have lots of particles hitting the detectors and that is what you are watching. A downloadable version is at my webpage http://www.hep.umn.edu/~prisca More info on our experiment can be found at http://cdms.berkeley.edu and http://www.soudan.umn.edu

• Category

  Science & Technology

[Yan Snimschikov]

The some part of the melody (approximately in 2:21 min.) sounds like the same "secret pass" melody in Steven Spielberg's movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

[priscacushman]

That is a little joke. I couldn't help myself. But you'll notice right after that section, I make a small "disclaimer" in the text. The first part is really from the data file of background events and at some point I spliced in my own code for "Close Encounters" and "When you wish upon a star."

[10mintwo]

omigosh! I haven't been to the cdms site in a while but it looks like you more than doubled your fiducial mass for this run. did you see a statistically significant number of candidate events? (is ok to say, i promise not to tell anyone :) do you have funding for super cdms?

[priscacushman]

Now, now, you know we can't tell. But seriously, we don't know yet either, since we are doing a blind analysis

[10mintwo]

Oh my fucking shit! this is the coolest thing EVAR!! Aren't you worried about increasing your background counts with neutron activation from the Cf? Have you searched enough parameter space to rule out the DAMA NaI "result"? Are you still the most sensitive DM search or is there a liquid Xe setup that's better now?

[priscacushman]

We are careful with the Cf runs - we can clearly see the activation and its decay, so we know where we stand. Re:DAMA, well, it depends on who you talk to, but we certainly have made it very unlikely. We are leapfrogging with Xenon. We have more exposure now, but have not yet released our results - hope to do that in February. Our limit will then be the best - unless we see some WIMPs, which might be even COOLER than the video.

[Yan Snimschikov]

It was a smart joke :)

Do you know that another joke is contained right into your screen name - "priscacushman"? In Russian language it sounds like "прискакушман" and in free back translation to English that means - Jewish-Jumping-Flasher :)

[tesformes]

I think Dark Matter's earlier work is better. He sold out in the last couple of years.

[deathbot117]

LOL IS THIS FAKE?!?!

[kingjoelofmoles]

lol i saw this video a long time ago and the close encounters thing freaked me out!

[Tall Grave]

Mmmmm(゜Д゜)mmmmM...

Weird !

[Yan Snimschikov]

It's not sounds like Russian bells. I know about it because I'm professional bell-ringer.

[skob2000]

Sounds like Russian churh`s bells

[lancemiller777]

I was liking this kind of music before it was cool.