physicist often progress experimentation look for a specific something . Maybe that something consists of dark subject , newfangled kinds of particles , or new ways that speck might interact with one another . Other physicist are trying to use these experiments ’ old datum in new ways , to look for something other than that specific something .
Confused ? Here ’s an example : One investigator is hunting for a less popular idea to explain dark matter , the elusive informant of most of the Universe ’s gravity . He ’s using data from an experiment plan to observe aless exoticthing . This is physics , so he has n’t find anything yet . But that does n’t stop over the results from being of import .
“ We did n’t see [ the raw particles ] , but I was n’t surprised , ” Jonathan Davis from King ’s College , London told Gizmodo . “ This is more of a validation of conception show that you may use new ideas to examine all sort of energies . ”
You might be intimate with an important cosmic enigma . Regular topic only makes up four percent of the Universe ’s energy , while some form of strange , invisible “ dark affair ” make up around 25 percent ( a deep thing called dark zip makes upthe rest period ) . One especially promising candidate is “ weakly interacting massive particles , ” or WIMPs , that consist of a suppositious particle that causes such a tiny jostle on mote that scientists have n’t seen it yet . Davis is or else looking for a supposed subatomic particle firm than the proposed crybaby but still too weak for veritable experiment to detect .
It ’s a SIMP , for “ strongly interact massive speck . ” The interaction between a SIMP and a nucleus might be as unattackable as the fundamental interaction between the atom within the lens nucleus .
WIMP - hunting experiment exist and are inhume deep underground to filter out more strongly - interact speck . But researchershaven’t foundany wimp yet . The thick rock and roll above these experiment would stop the SIMPs , though . So Davis asked the physicists at the CRESST collaborationism in Germany if he could attend at the information from their v - cleus experimentation . This sapphire crystal - containing detector sits on the Earth ’s surface and is cool down . In theory , the temperature of the detector should increase by a tiny amount should a molecule clear by ; SIMPs would leave a specific signature in the data .
Davis did n’t find anything with the preliminary , proof - of - construct run , according tothe paperpublished recently in Physical Review Letters , but he was capable to assist physicists empathise what a SIMP ca n’t look like . That ’s ofcrucial importanceto particle physics so other experimenter do n’t have to wait for the same form of particles .
The experiment did n’t rule out as many possible mote assome othershave and overlapped with some existing experiments , pointed out one physicist , James Beacham from CERN and the Ohio State University in an electronic mail to Gizmodo . Still , “ I have it away results like these , and they ’re a large part of the bread - and - butter of theorist and phenomenologists , since we experimentalists swear upon them to scrutinize our results after they ’re release to signal out where new physics could still be hiding and how we could have lose it in our datum . ”
Another CERN physicist , Steven Lowette , was excited about the outcome , since he ’s similarly hunting for SIMPs at the LHC , and other molecule that might have slipped past other physicists . “ The SIMP is one that would give a particular key signature the LHC was not establish for . ”
Davis ’ is another interesting example of physicist using existing experimentation in different way than they were intended so as to discover newfangled particle or phenomena others might not be see for . Beacham himself has tried to coordinate lookup like these . Other physicist are trying to take advantage of vacant forcible distance near other experiments , like walls or steam tunnels near the high - energy particle collision of the LHC . Here they might make far brassy ( sometimes plastic ) additions , likeMoEDALandMilliQanto spot particles the original experiment was n’t meant to find .
But Davis himself wants to see more directed hunting for these SIMPs and other alien atom .
“ Hopefully it will encourage the great unwashed to build experiment to look for other kind of weird dark issue . ”
[ PRL ]
CERNDark matterParticle physicsPhysicsScience
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