Discovery poised to help detect dark matter and pave way to unravel the universe's secrets
Researchers led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a breakthrough technique that could lay the foundations for detecting the universe's "dark matter" and bring scientists closer ...
The things we can see on Earth and in space—visible matter like rocks and stars—make up only a small portion of the universe, as scientists believe that 85% of matter in the cosmos comprises invisible dark matter. This mysterious substance is said to be the invisible glue holding galaxies together. Finding it could help us understand cosmic phenomena that cannot be explained solely by the matter we see.
But proving the existence of dark matter is a herculean task. As its name suggests, dark matter is "dark," meaning it does not normally emit or reflect light, carries no electric charge and interacts extremely weakly with normal matter, making it undetectable with conventional scientific instruments.
Dark matter is likely made up of particles and among the hypothetical particles proposed for it, a leading candidate is the axion.
Scientists have spent four decades looking for axions. One approach seeks to prove through experiments that existing particles in nature, like electrons or light particles, can behave like theoretical axions. If scientists can observe such behavior, it increases the likelihood that axions might be real. The findings can then serve as a springboard to develop a method for detecting actual axions.
Despite coming close, the results from the search for axions remain inconclusive. But scientists led by NTU Singapore have now confirmed that naturally existing particles can indeed act like axions.
Scientists have made a breakthrough that could be a boon for finding dark matter. The Singapore team includes (from left) Dr Subhaskar Mandal, a former Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as well as Prof Zhang Baile and Prof Chong Yidong from the University. Credit: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
A carefully designed crystalline geometric structure made of an artificial garnet crystal called yttrium iron garnet that was used in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore's experiments on dark matter research. Credit: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Dr Subhaskar Mandal checking a crystalline geometric structure used in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore's dark matter research experiments. Dr Mandal was a Research Fellow at the University when the study was done and is one of the co-first authors of the research paper. He is now an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai. Credit: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Photons, whose measured energies are represented as red streaks in these computer images, were observed moving in a single direction on the three-dimensional edges of special crystal structures that scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore had designed. The findings suggest that these crystals could be optimized to detect dark matter particles called axions in the future. Credit: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore