The new instrument, containing 3.5 tons of ultra-pure
noble gas Xenon cooled to nearly -140 degrees Fahrenheit to make it
liquid, is installed inside a 10 - meter - wide water shield to protect it from radioactive background radiation.
Takeuchi has spurred efforts to construct another detector in the Kamioka mine, known as XMASS, that uses a one - ton tank of
liquid xenon cooled to -100 °C to observe collisions between WIMPs and the frigid
noble gas.