Recent Results from LUX and Prospects for Dark Matter Searches with LZ

Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) remains one of the most promising dark matter candidates. Many experiments around the world are searching for WIMPs and the best current sensitivity to WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section is about 10 − 10 pb. LUX has been one of the world-leading experiments in the search for dark matter WIMPs. Results from the LUX experiment on WIMP searches for different WIMP masses are summarised in this paper. The LUX detector will be replaced by its successor, the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) detector. With 50 times larger fiducial mass and an increased background rejection power due to specially-designed veto systems, the LZ experiment (due to take first data in 2020) will achieve a sensitivity to WIMPs exceeding the current best limits by more than an order of magnitude (for spin-independent interactions and for WIMP masses exceeding a few GeV). An overview of the LZ experiment is presented and LZ sensitivity is discussed based on the accurately modelled background and the high-sensitivity material screening campaign.