Dark matter Content

LZ Experiment Sets New Record in Search for Dark Matter

Andy Fell — August 26, 2024 - 3:43pm

Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world’s most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have narrowed down possibilities for one of the leading dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

Students Build, Install Dark Matter Detector at CERN

Andy Fell — May 01, 2024 - 11:54am

A dark matter detector designed and built by swag�� undergraduate and graduate students is now undergoing trials at CERN. The device, a demonstration prototype for an experiment called FORMOSA, is currently installed in the forward region of the ATLAS detector, part of the Large Hadron Collider.

Newly Discovered Gravitational Lenses Could Reveal Ancient Galaxies and the Nature of Dark Matter

Andy Fell — September 29, 2022 - 4:38pm

An international team of astronomers has discovered dozens of strong gravitational lenses that will allow astronomers to look deep into the universe, revealing ancient structures and giving insight into the nature of dark matter.

LUX-ZEPLIN Dark Matter Detector Starts Up

Andy Fell — July 18, 2022 - 10:29am

Deep below the Black Hills of South Dakota in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), an innovative and uniquely sensitive dark matter detector—the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab — has passed a check-out phase of startup operations and delivered first results.

Taking the Temperature of Dark Matter

Andy Fell — January 15, 2020 - 9:24am

Warm, cold, just right? Physicists at the University of California, Davis, are taking the temperature of dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about a quarter of our universe.

We have very little idea of what dark matter is, and physicists have yet to detect a dark matter particle. But we do know that the gravity of clumps of dark matter can distort light from distant objects. Chris Fassnacht, a physics professor at swag��, and colleagues are using this distortion, called gravitational lensing, to learn more about the properties of dark matter.

A New Candidate for Dark Matter and a Way to Detect It

Andy Fell — June 10, 2019 - 2:05pm

Two theoretical physicists at the University of California, Davis, have a new candidate for dark matter, and a possible way to detect it. They presented their work June 6 at the Planck 2019 conference in Granada, Spain, and it has been submitted for publication.

Dark matter is thought to make up just over a quarter of our universe, with most of the rest being even-more mysterious dark energy. It cannot be seen directly, but dark matter’s presence can be detected because its gravity determines the shape of distant galaxies and other objects.

Astronomers Measure Universe Expansion, Get Hints of ‘New Physics’

Andy Fell — January 26, 2017 - 5:01pm

Astronomers have just made a new measurement of the Hubble constant, the rate at which the universe is expanding, and it doesn’t quite line up with a different estimate of the same number. That discrepancy could hint at “new physics” beyond the standard model of cosmology, according to the team, which includes physicists from the University of California, Davis, that made the observation.

Astronomers See Faintest, Furthest Galaxy

Andy Fell — May 19, 2016 - 12:19pm

A team of scientists led by two swag�� physicists has detected and confirmed the faintest early-universe galaxy yet. This new object, seen as it was about 13 billion years ago, could help astronomers understand the “reionization epoch” when the first stars became visible.