Dark-Matter Hunt Appears to Be Zeroing In on a Leading Contender
Pity the poor physicist searching for dark matter, the exotic substance that accounts for roughly one-quarter of all the stuff in the cosmos, yet only interacts with the rest of the universe through gravity and the weak nuclear force. Hardly a week goes by, it seems, without a tantalizing new hint of a dark matter particle hovering at the threshold of statistical significance that eventually goes poof, dashing hopes yet again. The problem is that although several experiments have detected possible hints of dark matter, the hints don’t agree with one another. A few physicists are flirting with outright nihilism, including Collar, who said, “It’s hard not to be a nihilist the way things are going.” Mysterious Matter Ordinary visible matter — the planets, stars, galaxies and everything else that we see — makes up a mere 4.9 percent of all the matter in the universe. Decades later, Vera Rubin and Kent Ford found further evidence of Zwicky’s “dark matter” in the stars orbiting the outskirts of spiral galaxies.
Dark matter existed in the universe even before the Big Bang, new research suggests
New particle could explain why the universe's greatest mystery remains unsolved
Discover Related
'Dark universe detective' telescope releases first data. See pics
Study in darkness shedding light on cosmos
How much do dark matter particles weigh?
China's new dark matter lab is the largest and deepest in the world
This Is the World’s Largest Digital Camera—and It’s Hunting for Dark Matter
Europe's Euclid space telescope set for launch to explore 'dark universe'
Euclid: UK-backed mission ready to uncover mysteries of the dark universe
Europe's Euclid spacecraft prepares to probe universe's dark mysteries
Dark matter from billions of years ago finally seen by scientists
Large Hadron Collider starts 3rd run to unravel more mysteries about the Universe
Small galaxies can lose their dark matter in confrontations with Goliath galaxies
Inside the Hidden Lab That’s Digging for Dark Matter
Mystery of ‘double galaxy’ that stumped scientists for years finally solved
Dark matter 探测神秘的 “暗物质”
Dark matter 探测神秘的 “暗物质”