Research Description
David Moore’s research aims to develop levitated cryogenic particles as ultra-sensitive detectors for some of the weakest signals in physics. Many important questions in fundamental physics involve particles and forces that interact so weakly with matter that they are difficult to detect with conventional instruments. His team will trap tiny solid particles in vacuum, cool them to very low temperatures, and use them to measure both recoil forces and small internal energy deposits from nuclear decays. The project aims to detect an unusual form of tritium decay and to search for the emission of extremely narrow-energy neutrinos, while establishing a platform for future tests involving dark matter and the quantum nature of gravity.
Research Impact
Professor Moore’s research could create a new tabletop approach to studying neutrinos by enabling precise measurements with levitated cryogenic particles that is complementary to conventional experiments that use large-scale detectors. The same platform could also support future tests of quantum effects in gravity and searches for forms of dark matter that are difficult to detect with existing methods. More broadly, the work could expand the experimental tools available for probing weakly interacting phenomena in fundamental physics.
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related links
Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative 
Science
Yale University, Department of Physics
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