Scientists have built an ingenious trap to trap dark matter

Although dark matter and dark energy make up 95% of the matter in the universe, scientists have never directly observed it. A new experience in University of Nottingham It attempts to address this conundrum by creating a Dark matter “trap” To study Domain wallsaccording to theory Numerical fieldsThis project took three years to complete and results are expected within a year.

he Standard Model of Physics It is currently the best tool we have for describing how the universe works, thanks to the improvements it has made General theory of relativity to Albert Einstein And the discovery of the Higgs boson. However, this model has a major shortcoming: it cannot explain dark matter and dark energy. These two entities, which we have never discovered directly, make up 95% of the universe. We can infer its existence from the effects of gravity on visible matter.

In a study published in the magazine Physical review dScientists at the University of Nottingham have introduced a particle called a scalar field and built a trap to detect the dark matter effect known as Domain walls. the teacher Claire Berg, “As density decreases, defects form,” explains the study’s lead author. This is similar to what happens when water freezes and turns into ice; Water molecules, which are random, when frozen form a crystalline structure with randomly aligned molecules, creating fault lines. Something similar happens in scalar fields with low density. You can’t see these fault lines with the naked eye, but if particles pass through them, their path may change. “These defects are dark walls and can prove the theory of scalar fields.”

To implement this experiment, the team created printed containers 3D Specially designed to “capture” dark walls, which is based on theoretical calculations. To activate this trap, scientists will cool the lithium atoms to approx Absolute zero Using laser photons and placing them in a special vacuum that simulates the change in density.

lucia Hackermüller, The one who designed the experiment explained: “The 3D printed containers that we use as a vacuum chamber were built using theoretical calculations of the dark wall. This has created what we believe it to be The perfect shape, structure and texture to trap dark matter. To prove that the dark walls are trapped, we will allow a cloud of cold atoms to pass through those walls. The cloud will deflect if these walls are present.

This trial, which took three years to develop, could provide results within a year. However, even if the dark walls are not revealed, the experiment will provide valuable information about the mysterious forces that underlie the known universe. The discovery of dark walls would be a major advance in the evidence for scalar fields, providing a new understanding of the expansion and acceleration of the universe.

In parallel, other recent developments have also contributed to our understanding of dark matter. A team of scientists from Atacama Cosmological Telescope (ACT) In the Chilean Andes He has created a revolutionary map of dark matter, providing new insight that confirms that massive structures in the universe grow and bend light, just as Einstein predicted. Dark matter, which makes up 85% of the universe, has been difficult to detect because it does not interact with light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation, which only interacts with gravity.

To determine the location of this dark matter, scientists looked to… Cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB)The light that emanates from the beginning of the universe. By observing how the gravitational force of large, heavy structures, including dark matter, distorts the CMB as it travels from Earth. 14 billion years Until we arrived, ACT scientists had only been able to map invisible dark matter.

The results obtained were surprising. Blake Sherwin, Professor University of Cambridge Cosmology “We have created a new collective map of the distortions of light left behind by the Big Bang,” commented the ACT research team leader. “Excitingly, it provides measurements that show that both the ‘inflation’ of the Universe, and its growth rate after 14 billion years of evolution, are exactly what we would expect from our standard model of cosmology based on Einstein’s theory of gravity.”