Cosmic ray and astroparticle detectors comprise experimental techniques and instrumentation designed to measure high-energy particles and radiation originating from space, including charged cosmic rays, gamma rays, neutrinos, and, indirectly, dark matter candidates. Detection methods exploit diverse physical processes such as ionization (gas chambers, silicon trackers), scintillation (organic and inorganic scintillators), Cherenkov radiation (water/ice Cherenkov, air Cherenkov telescopes), and calorimetry (electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters), often combined in hybrid observatories. These techniques enable reconstruction of particle energy, charge, direction, and composition, support studies of extensive air showers, and underpin astroparticle physics investigations of cosmic accelerators, fundamental interactions at extreme energies, and the high-energy universe’s particle and radiation fields.
Australian researchers have played a central role in a landmark result from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment in South Dakota—the world's most sensitive dark matter detector. Today, scientists working on the experiment report ...
General Physics
Dec 15, 2025
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Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, yet is estimated to account for most of the universe's mass. Over the past decades, many physicists worldwide have been trying to detect ...
Below the waves of the Mediterranean, Europe's KM3NeT neutrino telescope is on a cosmic hunt. Towering strings of sensors stretch a kilometer down to the seafloor, arranged in a vast 3D grid.
Astronomy
Oct 24, 2025
0
165
In their search for dark matter, scientists from the XENON Collaboration are using one of the world's most sensitive dark matter detectors, XENONnT at the Gran Sasso Laboratory of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics ...
General Physics
Oct 1, 2025
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140
Determining the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN ...
General Physics
Sep 29, 2025
1
148
Over 200 underwater bridge tunnels exist for vehicular traffic around the world, providing connectivity between cities. Once constructed, however, these tunnels are difficult to monitor and maintain, often requiring shutdowns ...
General Physics
Sep 16, 2025
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47
About 80% of the universe's mass is thought to consist of dark matter. Yet, little is known about the composition and structure of the particles that make up dark matter, presenting physicists with some fundamental questions. ...
Astronomy
Sep 9, 2025
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65
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) has successfully completed filling its 20,000-tons liquid scintillator detector and began taking data on Aug. 26.
General Physics
Aug 26, 2025
0
267
The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE, also known as "Wukong") Collaboration has obtained a high-precision cosmic-ray boron spectrum in the energy range of 10 GeV/n–8 TeV/n, and discovered a spectral "hardening" phenomenon ...
Astronomy
Jul 3, 2025
1
62
A cosmic particle detector in Antarctica has detected a series of bizarre signals that defy the current understanding of particle physics, according to an international research group that includes scientists from Penn State. ...
General Physics
Jun 13, 2025
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