Go Back   IceInSpace > General Astronomy > Astronomy and Amateur Science

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 09-11-2017, 09:53 AM
gary
Registered User

gary is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Mt. Kuring-Gai
Posts: 5,914
Search for elusive dark matter particles proves frustrating. - Nature

In a 8 Nov 2017 article in Nature, Elizabeth Gibney reports on how,
in their search for elusive particles to explain dark matter, physicists are
beginning to embrace alternative explanations for the missing material.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elizabeth Gibney, Nature
Physicists are growing ever more frustrated in their hunt for dark matter — the massive but hard-to-detect substance that is thought to comprise 85% of the material Universe. Teams working with the world’s most sensitive dark-matter detectors report that they have failed to find the particles, and that the ongoing drought has challenged theorists’ prevailing views.

The latest results from an experiment called XENON1T at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, published on 30 October, continue a dry spell stretching back 30 years in the quest to nab dark-matter particles. An attempt by a Chinese team to detect the elusive stuff, the results of which were published on the same day, also came up empty-handed. Ongoing attempts by space-based telescopes, as well as at CERN, the European particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, have also not spotted any hints of dark-matter particles.

The findings have left researchers struggling for answers. “We do not understand how the Universe works at a deeper and more profound level than most of us care to admit,” says Stacy McGaugh, an astrophysicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elizabeth Gibney, Nature
The latest round of results seems to rule out the simplest and most elegant super*symmetry theories, casting doubt on the idea that the still-undetected particles are the missing dark matter. If simple supersymmetry theories are no longer viable, scientists say, any WIMP particle has to interact with matter much more feebly than physicists once thought. “It’s not a wholesale retreat from the WIMP paradigm, but it is definitely a change in emphasis,” says Dan Hooper, a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.

Attitudes are shifting, and physicists are increasingly embracing other possible explanations for dark matter, says David Spergel, a theoretical astrophysicist at Princeton University in New Jersey, who was an early proponent of WIMP models. “These experiments haven’t completely closed the window. However, we also need to be thinking about other types of dark matter and new experiments,” he says.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elizabeth Gibney, Nature
The looming rejection of the WIMP hypothesis is encouraging for the few physicists who claim that dark matter itself is a red herring.
Article here :-
https://www.nature.com/news/dark-mat...ticles-1.22970
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 09-11-2017, 12:45 PM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
A theory should agree with observations.

Our theory on gravity does not agree with observation.
To explain the gallactic rotation curves and fit the theory we need an extrodinary amount of mass...mass which only reveals itself via our theory on gravity.. seems like a dog chasing its tail.

The theory did not predict the observations...clearly we can not "see" all the mass our theory says must be there... what if the theory is wrong as to this aspect?

Should we change or amend the theory or should we make the observations fit the theory?

Well by making the observations fit the theory we end up with most of the Universe being unknown to us...other than how it reveals itself via our theory...

The great thing is that folk are occupied on this and in the long run we should learn more be that we are currently wrong or that indeed stuff is out there that we can not detect...except via our current theory on gravity.

To find a better theory seems most difficult for to do so would seem to mean some of GR will need changing and if that is so how will that effect other matters dependant on GR.

Exciting times.

alex
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 08:36 PM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement