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Abstract

Dealing with extremely low event rates, background reduction and discrimination are essential challenges in dark matter direct detection experiments. The major contribution to the internal background in XENON100 is due to the radioactive noble gas radon which emanates from the detector walls into the liquid xenon target. To gain higher sensitivity, the radon contamination of the XENON1T detector, start of construction is in 2013, should be minimized due to careful material selection and a radon purification system based on adsorption. In this thesis, Monte Carlo simulations are performed to study the internal background induced by the radioactive decay of radon and its progenies for a XENON1T model detector. Then, an experimental setup to measure the radon adsorption on porous materials is introduced and tested. A procedure for measuring simultaneously the adsorption of radon and a second present gas component is given. Finally, results of the radon adsorption on activated carbon samples in presence of xenon are shown. These measurements will help to select the most appropriate adsorbent for the radon purification system in the XENON1T experiment.