Dark Matter Research Gets Interesting Results

Research into so-called dark matter is one of the hottest areas in physics research right now, largely because there's so much we don't know, and there's the possibility of making some fundamental (and Nobel prize-winning) discoveries. 

Researchers using the XENON experiment have found an excess of events in their detector. There are several possible reasons that could explain the results; one of them is mundane, the others could topple the Standard Model. 

Particle physicists have searched that long for a more complete inventory of nature, beyond the set of particles and forces known as the Standard Model of particle physics. And for 20 years, experiments like XENON1T have hunted specifically for the unknown particles that comprise dark matter, the invisible stuff that throws its gravitational weight around throughout the universe.

If XENON1T’s signal comes from axions — a top dark matter candidate — or nonstandard neutrinos, “it would clearly be very exciting,” said Kathryn Zurek, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. For now, though, “the mundane explanation of tritium is more likely in my mind.”

Business Insider also has an article about the experiment that points out that new experiments may settle the questions about the results.

A new generation of XENON-like experiments, currently in the works in the US and Europe, should help researchers study these extra events and determine which particles are causing them. That's because the new experiments will be larger and significantly more sensitive.

"If this is real, we will absolutely see it in our next generation of experiments," Manalaysay said. He has worked with one such effort, called the Large Underground Xenon dark-matter experiment. "It's like you're going into a quieter and quieter room ... You start hearing new things you couldn't hear in a louder room."