Has Elusive Dark Matter Finally Been Discovered?
Researchers at the University of Tokyo may have made the first official detection of Axions, theoretical subatomic particals that makes up 85% of the mass of the universe. Axions belong to a class of subatomic prticles know as "weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS). They do not admit light but interact with known matter gravitationally, being thus far, only indirectly observable.
The scientist employed powerful XENON detectors in a subterranean chamber to observe faint signals from outter space. On June 17, the physicists announced that they had observed excess flashes beyond statiscal norms and that data would suggest the presence of a new particle.
We should expect the findings to face peer review and subsequent experiments to reproduce the results. If substantiated, we may have entered a new relm of physics and text books will be rewritten.
Source article found here.
To answer the question you raised, the answer is NO. Dark matter has not been discovered...
I recommend the reading of the official press release of the Xenon1T experiment, to get first source information. By the way, the Xenon1T collaboration is more than researchers from Tokyo... it comprises researchers from all over the world :)
So to go back to the observed excess, let me try to clarify a bit. The collaboration provides three explanations for it:
In addition, many theory interpretations papers will appear soon. Count on physicists for that. But what is important is that this is not a discovery. Only a hint of something weird. Statistically speaking, there is a huge difference behind that: the significance of the observation. In any case, note that this won't imply that textbooks will have to be rewritten at all as this extends what exists and does not replace it.
PS: an axion is not a WIMP. Those are two different classes of candidates for dark matter... and axions do not make 85% of the universe as there is no proof they exist. And if they do, they won't make 85% of the universe as we know that our universe is mostly dominated by dark energy, at least in standard cosmology :)
Points well taken. Perhaps it would have served a better purpose to have better clarified the the constituants of the universe, namely approximately 68% dark energy, 28% dark matter and about 5% normal matter, according to NASA.
I appriciate your breakdown of the collaboration concerning tritium, neutrinos and pointing out that a solar axion is considered to be a new particle.
Having taken your suggestion, I had a look at the official Xenon1T experiment and found it very interesting, gave me a better understanding of the science and how things are moving. By the way, I came accross an interesting publication by the International Journal of Cosmology, Astronomy and Astrophysics where there's a detailed discussion of dark matter and dark energy. You may find it worth a read.
Thank for responding to the post, really appriciate the effort you put into your answer. Hope that it serves to promote further engagement and discussion of cool scientific topics. :)
In fact, this does not come from NASA but from the results of the Planck mission (see here), that has been managed by the ESA. and not the NASA.
This does not look a very correct article at all. Mass as a fifth dimension? Really? Just to mention the thing that shocked me the most with this article (that has not been published in a well recognised journal by the way). You can get much better information on CERN, NASA or ESA websites, to be honest.
PS: I may write about this news at some point next week... Just to clarify things deeper.
Thanks again for your response and the refence to the Plank mission. I found your post on "Cats and quantum computers" particularly interesting. As a result couple of questions came to mind.
The first question has to do with:
Could this also be related to entrophy?
My second question envolves:
Does the act of taking a measurment disturb the quantum field surrounding the object and does this possibly have anything to do with quantum electro dynamics?
Hopefully you can to clarify and get me pointed in the right direction. I don't pretend to understand all of the science involved but nevertheless, I find the subject matter extremely facinating.
Apologies for the delay in my answer.
The quantum origin of thermodynamics is addressed by a while field called quantum thermodynamics. In this context, thermodynamics quantities like entropy are connected to quantum observables. I am not too sure this is where you want to go. Please provide me more details to see whether I can answer shortly.
Taking a measurement changes the situation and affect the wave function. Quantum electrodynamics is on the other hand a quantum field theory describing electromagnetism.
PS: note that I finally wrote on the topic of your post in greater details. Feel free to have a look ^^