Stawell works on track as dark matter centre celebrates official launch

The Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory has withstood the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to be on track for completion by the end of the year.

The lastest works at the laboratory, which will be the first of the kind in the Southern Hemisphere, include the construction of structural steel and partitions, and the installation of plumbing and electrical services has begun.

An update on the construction of the laboratory will be part of the official launch of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics tomorrow (Wednesday, 22 September).

The launch will celebrate the establishment of the Centre which brings together researchers from the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Sydney, and international and industry partners.

The Centre’s mission is to discover the particle nature of dark matter, develop new technologies and facilities for the next generation of dark matter experiments, foster and develop the scientific leaders of the future, develop a cohesive national scientific environment with a strong equity and diversity program and translate new technologies to industry, defence and the public.

The centre is building the first dark matter direct detection experiments in Australia and SUPL will home one of its major experiments, the Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection Experiment (SABRE). Construction of the laboratory by Ballarat’s H Troon will be completed by December.

Centre Director Professor Elisabetta Barberio says researchers are anticipating starting work in SUPL in 2022.

“The pandemic has caused a lot of unexpected challenges, but it is pleasing to see that the works on the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory are on track to be completed by the end of the year,” she says.

“We are looking forward to taking our equipment down into the laboratory and starting to collect data that we hope will help us understand the nature of dark matter. It is incredible to think that what was once a cavern will be a fully functioning physics laboratory in just a few months.”

Professor Barberio hopes the Centre’s research makes an impact on the understanding a significant part of the universe.

“Dark matter constitutes about 85 per cent of our universe, and the Centre aims to carry out ground-breaking research into its nature, playing an important role in our understanding of the universe. We are also proud to bring together researchers from around the world to foster the scientific talent of the future,” she said.

If you would like to attend the launch, contact fleur.morrison@unimelb.edu.au for a link to the event.