Home · Science · Sep 17 archive
Underground Experiment Detects Potential Dark Matter Signal
Developing
In Short: Researchers analyzing data from an underground experiment in South Dakota report a signal that could be the first direct detection of dark matter.
Researchers analyzing 220 days of data from the LZ Experiment, an underground project in South Dakota, have detected a signal that could be the first direct observation of dark matter, a substance believed to make up about 85% of the universe’s mass.
The LZ Experiment, launched in 2021 by the Department of Energy, involves researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, among others from around the world.
The signal was detected in a massive detector buried about a mile underground in a former gold mine, where 10 metric tons of liquid xenon are shielded from cosmic rays and other interference.
Alvine Kamaha, a UCLA assistant professor of physics and member of the LZ collaboration, told that researchers need to see additional events and determine whether the signal becomes statistically stronger as more data are collected.
Rick Gaitskell, a professor at Brown University and spokesperson for the experiment, said, “With only one event, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We are not claiming to have seen dark matter, but we have seen something interesting that we want to share with the scientific community for their input.”
What's confirmed
- The LZ Experiment reportedly launched in 2021 through the Department of Energy, with researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and the collaboration includes 250 scientists and engineers from institutions around the world.
What's still developing
- Researchers analyzing 220 days of data found an interaction in which a xenon nucleus recoiled, producing the type of light and electron signals they were looking for.
- The finding was especially intriguing because dark matter has reportedly never been directly detected, despite decades of evidence that some unseen form of matter is affecting the movement of galaxies and galaxy clusters.
- Dark matter also can't be explained by the Standard Model, the framework physicists use to describe known subatomic particles.
- Per the News Group, the experiment is designed to detect the tiny signals produced when a dark matter particle collides with a xenon atom.
- Additionally, the possible signal reportedly resembles what physicists would expect from a hypothetical weakly interacting massive particle, or WIMP, one of the leading theories for what dark matter might be.
- The LUX-ZEPLIN main detector in a surface lab before installation underground. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility) An experiment deep underground in South Dakota’s Black Hills has reported its “most compelling hint of dark matter” to date.
- A news release Tuesday from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment announced the recording of a single particle interaction that researchers have difficulty explaining with known background signals from normal matter.
- Steel beams headed underground in SD for ‘largest science experiment ever attempted on U.S. soil’ Scientists have been trying to understand dark matter for the better part of a century.
Sources
- SFistlink