Scientists Intrigued by a Surprising Result in the Search for Dark Matter

Dark matter is the invisible stuff that accounts for roughly 85% of the mass in the universe, and for decades, physicists have been trying to figure out what it's made of. Now an experimental facility located nearly a mile below ground in South Dakota has recorded a single interaction between subatomic particles that doesn't match what's expected from normal

The top 3

  1. WIMPs: Weakly Interacting Massive Particles: WIMPs are hypothetical heavy, electromagnetically neutral subatomic particles that interact primarily through gravity and the weak nuclear force, making them a leading candidate for cold dark matter and targets for many direct detection experiments.
  2. Axions: Solving CP Problem and Dark Matter: Axions are hypothetical elementary particles, originally proposed to solve the strong CP problem, that could also account for cold dark matter if their mass falls within a specific low range.
  3. MACHOs: Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects: MACHOs are non-luminous compact objects like brown dwarfs or black holes, once considered dark matter candidates; however, gravitational microlensing surveys and dynamical studies have largely ruled them out as the dominant component.

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