What is dark matter? The answer is simple: no one knows. It is one of the greatest enigmas of science.

Scientists have been searching for clues about this for decades. mystery ingredient 25% of the universe is made of it.

But how do you look for something that you don’t even know what it is, how do you find something that is? invisible?

And all that said, why embark on such a complex task if it’s so hard to find?

These questions inspired a multi-person team. 250 researchers They are from several countries that have recently published the first results of an ambitious project that they hope to finally find signs of dark matter.

LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), a sophisticated laboratory It is located in an abandoned gold mine 1.5 kilometers underground in Lead, South Dakota, United States.

The idea that it is underground is that it is isolated from the greatest amount. radiation and dust can produce pollution that hinders the search for dark matter.

According to its creators, the LZ is a dark matter detector. very sensitive which was built.

To do this, they managed to make the interior of the LZ. “The purest place on earth.”

“The center of the detector like the mind of a Buddhist monk.” Chamkaur Ghag, LZ researcher and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London in the UK, tells BBC Mundo.

The detector is designed to receive either a signal. extremely weak, It could be a dark matter particle.

As if “listen carefully in the middle of a quiet space»says LZ’s creators on their website.

How does LZ work, how does it search for dark matter? What if he finds it?

mysterious dark matter

We currently know what only 5% of the universe is made of. This 5% corresponds to ordinary matter that we can see or touch.

The particles that make up this ordinary matter are described in what is known as the Standard Model.

this 95% material the rest is a mystery.

Physicists and astronomers suspect this percentage. 70% is dark energy and 25% is dark matter.

Dark energy is a kind of accelerating force. expansion of the universe.

For its part, dark matter is an invisible “thing” that acts like a magnet. holds galaxies together.

Astronomical observations have shown that galaxies rotate much faster than expected with respect to their orbits. conspicuous mass.

Calculations show that the gravity corresponding to that mass is not enough to hold the galaxies together, so there must be “something” that adds mass and therefore extra gravity to them, and prevents them from being hit in space.

The “something” that explains this extra gravity is dark matter.

It’s called dark because does not emit, reflect or absorb light, which is very difficult to observe.

Thus, until now the only sign scientists have of its existence is gravitational effect That dark matter applies to ordinary matter, for example, from which stars and galaxies are made.

So we don’t know what dark matter is, but the universe without it very different as we know.

And what is dark matter made of?

Various ideas have been formulated over the decades to explain what dark matter is made of, but still There is no convincing answer.

One possibility is that it was made from it. “supersymmetric particles” They are hypothetical particles that form pairs with those that make up ordinary matter.

And there is another candidate to explain what dark matter is made of.

about DIFFIDENTA hypothetical particle that LZ hopes to detect.

According to NASA, WIMPs are the leading candidate for explaining dark matter.

WIMP stands for English initials. Weakly Interacting Massive Particle.

WIMPs are thought to have formed naturally after the Big Bang, and there must have been so many of them, dark matter explanation.

These WIMPs to penetrate the universe and even through ordinary matter, but in rare cases one of them can collide with the nucleus of an atom.

LZ hunting that very moment…

playing billiards

The principle under which LZ operates is simple.

It is a tank made of titanium filled with 10 tons of ultrapure liquid xenon.

The researchers chose xenon because it is a noble gas, so it can be taken to extremely high levels of purification. remove most of the contaminants.

The experiment consists of observing particles passing through the cosmos until they reach the center of the tank.

I hope some of these particles will collide with the core one of the xenon atoms like two billiard balls

When this shock occurs, a burst of light which is detected by LZ sensors.

Therefore, after a collision, the task is to analyze the properties of the light produced and, based on the analysis, find out what kind of particle collided with the xenon atom.

With the patience of a buddhist priest, LZ researchers hope that at some point a WIMP will reach the tank and collide with the nucleus of a xenon atom.

LZ began work in April and is still in its initial results published in early July. they did not detect dark matter traces

The purest place on the planet

One of the LZ’s biggest challenges is preventing unwanted particles from entering the tank. surpriseor avoid seeing a WIMP that comes suddenly.

The goal is to clear the entire stage, if any, until it’s WIMP. Decide to show up.

Therefore, it is very important that the LZ is underground.

Cosmic rays are constantly bombarding the planet’s atmosphere, which can reach a detector like the LZ and unwanted signals

Since it is 1.5 km below the ground, these particles are prevented from coming in large numbers. Some may reach the tank, but luck 10 million times smaller.

Why are you looking for dark matter?

“Finding dark matter, lost masssays Ghag.

“It’s the equivalent of figuring out what it’s made of. almost 30% of the universe.

Ghag also said, “understanding or exploring dark matter will be the first window of vision. Beyond the Standard Model, It is currently a closed room.

The Standard Model is by far the best description of the particles and forces that make up all ordinary matter.

However, this model only describes what it is made of nearby. 5% of the universe.

Another question that arises is whether it can be used as a detecting dark matter. power source.

In this context, the creators of the LZ unlikely It means we can harness the power of dark matter for centuries to come.”

“It’s not clear what benefits future generations can derive from using dark matter, but these things are extremely unpredictable”.

But LZ’s primary mission aside, the lab itself is a huge Advancing for science and technology.

Beam and sensor analysis techniques can lead to innovations in the pharmaceutical food industry and algorithm system They can be used in fields such as nuclear medicine.

“But perhaps the greatest benefit to humanity is the knowledge itself,” says the creators of LZ.

“We are a curious species, it seems we are programmed to want to know. how does it work The world is around us”.