This small mirror may be able to detect dark matter
An attempt to search for extremely small substances from the vast universe that is so distant.
Almost one -quarter of our universe is thought to be a mysterious substance called Dark Matter.Dark Matter (both dark substances) does not release electromagnetic waves and cannot be observed directly.It is thought to be composed of unknown elementary particles, but there is no case where the substance has been detected.
In order to find out the identity of the Dark Matter, various experiments have been conducted around the world.For example, the experiment of Italy's "Xenon 1T" literally fills a tank that fills 1 ton of liquid xenon deep underground of Mt. Grand Sasso, and is waiting for a dark matter -like behavior.
In this way, very large -scale devices have always been used to detect dark matter.However, it is said that a very small dark matter detection device was developed at Delaware University.The latest device is made of a silicon of the nitride and a bellillium mirror, the size is only about the coin, and the thinness is 100 nm (0)..00001cm).Because it is inexpensive and scalable, it can be mass -produced, and it may be possible to perform a lot of experiments.
In search of Dark Photon
The new detection device was developed by the quantum optical research team led by the Delaware University Assistant Professor Swati Singh.Based on the theoretical research published in the academic magazine "Physical Review Letters" last April, it is a miso that it creates not only the theory but also the prototype of the device.A paper was just published in the magazine this February.
According to the latest research, it was developed in a type of optical machine device, and it should be able to detect fine particles that could not be swelled with existing detection devices.As for the mechanism, the silicon of the nitride and the velilium mirror form an optical cavity and can confine the light inside.When the trapped light resonates, the nitride is distorted according to the charging of the barrion and the valion in Lepton.If this distortion was a measured value that could not be explained in the current physics, that might be the dark matter of the Dark Matter.Therefore, researchers think that using this mirror like a tuning fork and listening to the light of various frequencies can be detected like a dark matter.
But what kind of dark matter are you looking for?According to Jack Manley, the first author of the dissertation, he is looking for "Dark Photon (Dark Mitsuko)".It is a theoretical particles that have not been found yet.
"Like Mitsuko, Dark Photon has an electromagnetic field, but it is thought that it has mass unlike photons, so the name is rising as a candidate for the particles that make up the dark matter."Manley is talking.
Professor Swati Singh, a co -author of the dissertation, explains:
In the dissertation, manley and SINGH are considering how to detect Dark Photon using a variety of theoretical methods besides the Verrillium mirrors.
Dark Matter Candidates
Why is there something invisible in the first place?Because of the observations of gravity, it is thought that the universe has a much larger substance than the visible substances.
In the solar system, the stars are long and slow as the stars far from the sun.However, for example, the stars and gas on the disk of the swirl galaxy are the same, no matter where they are on the disk.It's a merry -go -round.This means that there is a substance that solidifies the whole swirl galaxy on the same base.This is because the gravity of the substance can only be explained that the stars and gas outside the disk are pulled and keeps the rotation speed constant.
In addition to Dark Photon, there are some Dark Matter candidates, and the Axion is relatively famous.Recently, there are some papers that there may be Axion at the nucleus of neutral stars.There is also a hypothesis on Wimp (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle), led by Newt Larino.Furthermore, even the hypothesis that the small celestial body called the primitive black hole is the identity of the dark matter.
Dark Matter candidates, which have a wide variety, are different according to each characteristics.In the case of SINGH's Dark Photon, the important thing is not "where it is", but "how much density exists".While there are various theories about the density of the dark matter, SINGH thinks that Dark Photon, which exists on substances comparable to the earth, is only "squirrels".So, the important thing in detecting dark photons is whether the mass of Dark Photon, which is only as a squirrel, is evenly existed in the global size.Moreover, not only the density of Dark Photon is low, but it is considered a fine particles that cannot be detected by humans, so it is difficult to do so.
Difficult to install
That's why SINGH and his colleagues are expected to be active in the small size dark matter detection device developed, but only one drawback.The device itself can be easily produced, but the installation seems to be complicated.
The overview of the dissertation is explained that it can be installed on the desk, but in this case, the "desk" means an optical table.According to Dalziel Wilson, an assistant professor at Arizona University, the author of the dissertation
The more you re -seizure, the more the accuracy of the detection device increases the closer to the freedom falling state.However, what Wilson and others have proposed through two papers are the new possibilities of precision detection devices, not specific experimental methods."I think it's going to be a stage where you can actually test the detector in about five years," says Singh.
When that happens, can this small mirror be reflected in the dark matter?Even if you can't reflect it, just knowing that it's not a dark matter can be a big progress.After all, the other party is something that humans cannot detect at all.There is no other choice but to narrow down the candidates by denying.
Image: ESAREFERENCE: PHYSICAL REVIEW Letters (1,2), astronomical dictionary