A mile beneath South Dakota , in what used to be a gold mine , one of the most sophisticated experimentsin the universe lies . Called LUX - Zeplin , it hopes to at last maintain dark topic : the hypothetical substance that should make up 85 percent of the matter in the universe .
It was turned on two month ago . It has not found dark matter , but in those 60 days , it allowed researchers to put the most stringent constraints on what non-white matter might be . The twist will have to run out for 1,000 days to substantiate its full sensibility , but this preliminary result substantiate that the design is legal .
Dark issue is invisible , it does n’t interact with light . Observational grounds is so far circumstantial , based on the need for extra thing ( or new physics ) to explain the revolution of coltsfoot and the structures of the Universe . One possibility is that sullen affair is made of weakly interact monolithic particles ( WIMPs ) , and that ’s what LUX - Zeplin is track down for . now and again , a WIMP might interact with an particle among the seven tons of swimming atomic number 54 in the detector .
The potential fundamental interaction would free electrons , which will be detected . Even if it ’s not seeing any fundamental interaction , this tells physicists where gloomy matter is n’t . Just 60 days have diminished the potential mass reach where these WIMPS might exist .
“ The collaboration run well together to calibrate and to understand the sensing element answer , ” Berkeley Lab ’s Aaron Manalaysay who , as purgative coordinator , lead the coaction ’s efforts to produce these first physics results , sound out in astatement . “ consider we just turn it on a few months ago and during COVID restriction , it is impressive we have such significant results already . ”
The composition with the first resultant can be read onlinehere . The sensing element is now push in the region known as the neutrino daze ( formerly the neutrino storey ) . This is the orbit where the impression of neutrino , also particles that barely interact with matter , can be observed by the detector . However , scientists are confident that enough data will be garner to tell the neutrinos from the potential wimps .
“ We plan to collect about 20 time more data in the do years , so we ’re only getting begin . There ’s a lot of science to do and it ’s very exciting , ” LZ interpreter Hugh Lippincott of the University of California , Santa Barbara , explain .
The search for dark matter does n’t pass through this experimentation alone . The Large Hadron Collider has startedits third runand physicists there hope to see weird decays ofthe Higgs Bosonindicating the beingness of grim matter . And obviously , astronomical observance by coming telescopes will tighten up the properties of this plausible mannequin of matter even more .
