European Underground Rare Event Calorimeter Array

The European Underground Rare Event Calorimeter Array (EURECA) is a planned dark matter search experiment using cryogenic detectors and an absorber mass of up to 1 tonne.

There is considerable evidence from astronomy and cosmology that a significant fraction of the mass of the Universe, and of galaxies is made up of non-luminous material.

[4] Existing experiments such as CRESST and EDELWEISS have already ruled out higher interaction rates, but EURECA will search down to this lower limit.

Cryogenic dark matter experiments use particle detectors operating at millikelvin temperatures to search for the elastic scattering of WIMPs of an atomic nuclei.

Dark matter experiments are located in deep underground laboratories, and use extensive shielding to reduce the background radiation levels from cosmic rays.

This provides a way to show if a positive signal is due to dark matter, as the event rate is expected to scale with the atomic mass of the target nuclei.