Astronomers have a problem. Stars and galaxies dance to an unexpected tune, their motion seemingly governed by six times the matter that can be seen. Scientists believe that the Universe is filled with a form of dark matter that far exceeds the amount of ordinary matter. There’s only one problem: There is no direct evidence for the existence of dark matter.
Over the past 50 years, physicists have tried to detect dark matter, to no avail. Many options have been considered, ranging from subatomic particles to unseen black holes. For the past few decades, the theoretical physics community has favored the idea that dark matter is made of stable particles with a mass somewhere between the mass of a proton and a few thousand times greater.
However, a group of physicists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago have explored a very different mass range. These scientists are looking for dark matter particles that are trillions or even quadrillion times lighter than the more traditional searches. READ MORE...
