- The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, located 1.5 km underground in South Dakota, announced in the latest results, the most stringent restrictions on the potential identity of dark matter particles.
- Although they didn’t pinpoint the particle’s identity, they provided clues about what it could not be.
- Dark Matter and Its Role
- Dark matter is an invisible substance responsible for most of the universe’s mass, contributing 85%, while stars, gas, and planets contribute 15%.
- It does not interact with photons and remains stable for at least 14 billion years, the estimated age of the universe.
- Scientists have theorized that dark matter particles might occasionally interact with atomic nuclei, scattering in detectable ways.
LZ Experiment:
- It aims to detect dark matter, but efforts have not yielded a direct detection of dark matter.
- The key experiment involves placing a large chunk of metal underground to detect dark matter particles interacting with nuclei in the material.
- The experiment aims to measure two variables: the mass of the dark matter particle and the rate at which it interacts with nuclei (scattering cross-section).
- Cross-section measurements indicate how easily particles pass through different materials, with dark matter showing extremely low interaction rates.
- It uses tonnes of liquid xenon or argon.
- With increased sensitivity to energy transfer, the “Neutrino fog” complicates the detection of dark matter, as distinguishing between dark matter and neutrino signals becomes increasingly difficult.
Dig Deeper: Compare it with Dark Energy.
