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Researchers May Have Finally Detected a Dark Matter Particle
The international Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment has detected what may be the particle that’s thought to make up dark matter throughout the Universe.
Dark matter: it’s invisible, it’s elusive, it’s controversial… and it’s everywhere — in the Universe, yes, but especially in the world of astrophysics, where researchers have been trying to reveal its true identity for decades.
Now, scientists with the international Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment are reporting the detection of a particle that’s thought to make up dark matter: a weakly-interacting massive particle, or WIMP for short. According to a press release from Texas A&M University (whose high-energy physicist Rupak Mahapatra is a principal investigator in the experiment) SuperCDMS has identified a WIMP-like signal at the 3-sigma level, which indicates a 99.8 percent chance of an actual discovery — a “concrete hint,” as it’s being called.
“In high-energy physics, a discovery is only claimed at 5-sigma or better,” Mahapatra said. “So this is certainly very exciting, but not fully convincing by the standards. We just need more data to be sure. For now, we have to live with this tantalizing hint of one of the biggest puzzles of our time.”
If this is indeed a WIMP it will be the first time such a particle has been directly observed, lending more insight into what dark matter is… or isn’t.
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Read the rest of Researchers May Have Finally Detected a Dark Matter Particle (421 words)
© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: Cosmology, Dark Matter, particle, SuperCDMS, Texas A&M, universe, WIMP
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2013-04-15 09:16:44
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/101464/researchers-may-have-finally-detected-a-dark-matter-particle/
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