May 2, 2013

Dark Matter Research




New dark matter detector begins search for invisible particles

Scientists heard their first pops this week in an experiment that searches for signs of dark matter in the form of tiny bubbles. And IU South Bend faculty, students, local scientists and teachers are playing a part in the groundbreaking experiments.

Scientists will need further analysis to discern whether dark matter caused any of the Chicagoland Observatory of Underground Particle Physics-60 (COUPP-60) experiment’s first bubbles.

“We are testing the hypothesis that the dark matter consists of a previously unknown  type of particle. It would have a mass about 10 to 1000   times that of the proton and would interact with ordinary matter only through the weak nuclear force and gravity” said Ilan Levine, professor of physics and astronomy at Indiana University South Bend.