The CYGNO experiment

The existence of non-luminous matter in the Universe, known as Dark Matter, is a fundamental ingredient of modern cosmological theories. Its nature and characteristics are currently unknown. The CYGNO project, using a directional detector, aims to study events such as Dark Matter interactions in the low mass region O(GeV/c2). The proposed detector is a Time Projection Chamber (TPC), filled with a gas mixture of He:CF4 (60:40) at room temperature and at mospheric pressure. The signal is produced by primary ionization from a few keV nuclear or electron recoil, which is amplified using a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) stack. During this process, light proportional to the primary electrons is generated. By combining the use of a sCMOS camera and photomultiplier, the signal is acquired allowing for the reconstruction of the energy and direction of the recoils. The R&D phase is concluding with the Long Imaging ModulE (LIME) prototype, a 50 liters TPC. It is currently taking data underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) to study the performance of the prototype in a low background environment. The latest results on LIME operations in different configurations are shown.