An international team of scientists has been shining new light on this research with the DAMIC-M collaboration. Their mission? To solve one of the greatest mysteries of our universe, dark matter. This grand experiment dives 5,000 feet below the surface of the French Alps. Scientists carry it out at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane, chosen for its incredible shielding from cosmic rays. The DAMIC-M experiment takes full advantage of all this state-of-the-art technology and innovation. Its mission is to find the first dark matter particles expected to interact extremely weakly with normal matter.
Dark matter is arguably the most profound mystery in all of modern astrophysics. Scientists theorize that it therefore constitutes the majority of the universe’s total mass. They have not directly detected it since first postulated. The DAMIC-M project aims to crack the mysteries behind this elusive sector of matter. It’s doing so by actively hunting for particles that may be the fundamental building blocks of this mysterious cosmic ingredient.
The Experiment and Its Location
The DAMIC-M detector at its underground location over 5,000 feet deep in the French Alps. This exclusive geography provides the most unique environment on our planet — uninterrupted and without interference by cosmic radiation. This unique depth provides researchers the power to create groundbreaking, experimental conditions. This more than five kilometers of sub-aerial crustal rock serves as an elaborate natural shield, preventing cosmic rays from drowning out the signals these scientists are trying to detect.
At this unique facility, scientists use Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) cooled to -220°F to reduce thermal noise and improve detection sensitivity. These devices built for skipper readout, a novel counting technique that allows scientists to count single electrons. Such a degree of sensitivity is key to being able to uncover rare interactions that could point to dark matter particles.
The DAMIC-M team is bringing new materials to bear in novel experiments. They hope to improve their search for dark matter, and learn more about its nature.
“We use ancient lead, from a sunken Roman ship and Spanish galleon, since its radioactive contaminants have already decayed.” – Paolo Privitera
The DAMIC-M experiment just announced its first results after scanning through data from thousands of interactions in their very sensitive CCDs. From the pairs, they found 144 different clusters with two electrons and one example of a cluster containing four electrons. These findings are consistent with predictions of background noise rather than the sensing of dark matter particles.
Recent Findings
Even with these null results, scientists insist that their work is essential in helping to understand the role of dark matter in the universe. Researchers are looking hard for other particles that might constitute hidden-sector dark matter. They’re looking at other would-be candidates, such as light Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).
The DAMIC-M experiment is poised to be at the forefront of low-mass dark matter research for several years to come. With its very sophisticated technology and amazing geographic location, I think researchers do believe they’re really nicely poised to go out and explore this really huge unknown world.
“Thus, we have not yet discovered dark matter.” – Paolo Privitera
Privitera noted that their findings could have broader implications for theoretical models concerning dark matter.
“Our target is still hidden-sector dark matter, which we may find composing a fraction of all dark matter, but also light WIMPs and other candidates.” – Paolo Privitera
Looking Ahead
Researchers would like to reiterate that dark matter hasn’t been found. They argue that even negative results can make a valuable and meaningful scientific contribution. With every null result they get to make better predictions and further narrow the field of potential candidates for dark matter particles.
Scientists are probing far below the surface of the French Alps. They’re looking forward to new technology and improved approaches quickly aiding in cracking one of science’s oldest and deepest mysteries.
“These theoretical predictions are now probed for the first time by the DAMIC-M null result.” – Paolo Privitera
Although no dark matter has been detected yet, researchers emphasize that negative results can still contribute significantly to scientific understanding. Each null result helps refine predictions and narrows down potential candidates for dark matter particles.
“The fact that we have not found dark matter in our data excludes that hidden-sector particles constitute the entirety of dark matter in the universe.” – Paolo Privitera
As researchers continue their quest beneath the French Alps, they remain hopeful that future advancements in technology and methodology will eventually yield positive results in their pursuit of one of science’s most enduring mysteries.