Laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory upgrade to help find dark matter

There is something mysterious hidden in the universe. It can't be seen or touched. We can only know the existence of it by applying the gravitational force applied to the universe. This is the so-called "dark matter." Dark matter is indispensable for explaining the movement of stars in galaxies and other cosmic phenomena observed by humans, and perhaps the "behind the scenes" of many cosmic events.

Since the 1980s, physicists have built a series of sophisticated detectors to look for dark matter, but so far, even in the most sophisticated experiments, dark matter has not revealed even a trace of truth.

In 2019, in the "peek-and-cat" game of dark matter, scientists will enter a new phase of the game. From the huge detectors hidden underground to the large telescopes that are high above the sky, the four dark matter experiments that will be conducted this year may surprise us.

LIGO upgrade helps find dark matter

In 2015, the "Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory" (LIGO) first observed the gravitational wave directly, which shocked and boasted the world. After a series of upgrades to the equipment, it will begin the third round of observations earlier this year. By then, it will collect more data than ever before. Some scientists say that the use of gravitational wave data is expected to reveal the "cluster" of dark matter.

In 2018, some researchers suggested that if a small "photon" with a small mass is lurking somewhere in the universe, its signal may appear in the LIGO data, causing very special irregularities in the gravitational wave characteristics.

Dark photons are the twin particles of human imaginary ordinary light particles, and if they exist, they will be a way of interpreting dark matter.

Researchers hope that ground-based and future space-based gravitational wave detectors can make major discoveries that dark matter research dust settles.

With LIGO "the return of the king", scientists are likely to find evidence of the existence of dark matter in gravitational wave data.

Understand the inert neutrino "true identity"

Inert neutrinos are also considered candidates for dark matter. In the new year, physicists try to clarify the relationship between the two.

As early as the 1990s, in the liquid scintillation neutrino detector (LSND) experiment run in the Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists discovered a mysterious new particle called "inert neutrino". evidence of. However, in the next 20 years, this result has not been repeated, and other experiments have not found any signs of the particle.

In 2018, things suddenly turned around: the "Fuel Neutrino Experiment" (MiniBooNE) of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States detected this signal again, indicating that in addition to electronic neutrinos, μ neutrinos, and τ In addition, the fourth neutrino, the inert neutrino, may actually exist.

Neutrinos can pass through other substances almost unimpeded, just as other substances do not exist, and are therefore called "ghost particles." But the three common neutrinos are too small to be the constituents of dark matter. Inert neutrinos are neutrinos of greater mass and weaker interactions with common substances.

Some scientists believe that if the quality of the inert neutrino is large enough, it may be the long-term dark matter. They hope to be able to figure out the "true identity" of inert neutrinos in 2019.

Large integrated survey telescope "open eyes"

The Large Integrated Survey Telescope (LSST) is a telescope built by scientists in Chile. Every 15 seconds, it can capture detailed images of large skies; a full sky scan can be done every 3 days.

It is well known that dark matter shapes the way in which galaxies and their stars move and interact with each other. The goal of LSST is to provide unprecedented detail about how the universe works, which should provide astrophysicists with a wealth of data on the nature of dark matter and its role in the universe.

In 2019, the researchers will open the telescope for the first time to weigh 2800 kilograms of "eyes", letting it cast a deep affection for the entire sky. LSST is expected to enter full operation in 2022 and conduct a 10-year full-day tour of the Pace Mountain in northern Chile. In 10 years, it will compare the acquired images to track the changing laws of the sky and provide the deepest data resources for understanding how dark matter “stirring” the universe.

Capture the gleam caused by the collision of radon and dark matter

Particle physicists have long speculated that the first direct sign of dark matter could be a flash: these substances emit a weak spot as dark matter collides with inert matter in very dark rooms. Scientists have built detectors based on this principle for decades, but so far no detector has produced definitive results.

Therefore, many research teams have decided to take a different approach – some upgrade existing equipment, and others build new detectors to find dark matter.

In 2019, Chinese scientists will work hard on the PandaX platform, which is staring at the suffocating gas around the clock looking for a flash of light – if the sputum atom collides with dark matter particles, the resulting gleam Will be captured by the detector. Scientists are accelerating the upgrade of the detector, hoping to do most of the work between 2019 and 2020. The upgraded detector will be called "PandaX-xt" and will hold 4 tons of helium.

Dark matter researchers in the United States are not to be outdone. The "Large Underground Experiment (LUX)", located about a mile underground in an abandoned gold mine in South Dakota, USA, will also be fully upgraded and renamed "LUX-Zeplin" to accommodate 10 tons of liquid helium. Like the "PandaX-xt", the project may not be completed until 2020.

Italy also plans to upgrade its detector "XENON" to an 8-ton liquid helium scale called "XENON-nt" and the upgrade may be completed in 2019.

Will the above four search methods allow scientists to obtain definitive evidence of dark matter in 2019? We are not sure. Perhaps dark matter really exists, but it exists in a way that is completely different from what we expected.

In any case, human exploration of the universe is endless, and many unsolved mysteries are waiting to be solved. More exploration is still behind than finding dark matter, but dark matter is like a key that opens the door to deeper physics.