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A Minimalist Approach to the Hunt for Dark Matter

Specifically, the Antipas team used their experiments to search for a class of dark matter known as ultralight dark matter. At their heaviest, ultra-bright dark matter particles are still about a trillion times lighter than electrons. According to quantum mechanics, all matter has both particle-like and wave-like qualities, with larger objects typically having more particle-like qualities and smaller ones having more wave-like qualities. “When people talk about ultra-bright dark matter, they mean that dark matter is more like a wave,” said physicist Kathryn Zurek of the California Institute of Technology, who was not involved in the experiment. Like all other dark matter experiments so far, the Antipas search has found nothing. However, the absence of their discovery helps limit the properties of dark matter, as experiments show what dark matter is not. Also, the team’s approach differs from that of the more famous dark matter experiment, which looks for particles known as WIMPs (

The elusive particle: Scientists embark on a quest to find dark matter

In a former gold mine a mile underground, inside a titanium tank filled with a rare liquefied gas, scientists have begun a search for what so far has not been able to find: dark matter. Scientists are pretty sure invisible objects make up most of the mass of the universe and say we wouldn’t be here without them – but they don’t know what they are. The race to solve this great mystery has taken one team to the depths beneath Lead, South Dakota. The question for scientists is basic, says Kevin Lesko, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “What is this great place I live in? Right now, 95% of it is a mystery.” The idea is that a mile of dirt and rock, a giant tank, a second tank, and the world’s purest titanium will block out nearly all of the cosmic rays and particles that glide around – and penetrate – all of us every day. But dark matter particles, scientists say, can avoid all those obstacles. They hoped someone would fly into a vat of liquid xenon in the inner