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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Why does CERN think it can find dark matter?
« on: 22/01/2016 12:46:01 »Quote from: dhjdhj
their real area of researchCERN is all about subatomic physics.
There are a few tantalizing puzzles that suggest that there are more subatomic particles than those recognized by today's "Standard Model" of particle physics.
The LHC is also able to peer into the conditions that existed early in the Big Bang. It is thought that Dark Matter (whatever it is) must have some roots in the Big Bang.
With the LHC's recent "supercharged" upgrade to 7 TeV per beam (14 TeV total), they are able to investigate effects that have never been seen before under controlled conditions; almost any time scientists get to investigate a new energy range, they discover something new.
One of those candidates is the hypothetical Dark Matter particle (a "WIMP"). Various studies have ruled out other Dark Matter candidates like black holes, free-floating planets or neutrinos - there just can't be enough of them to account for the observed effects.
So the LHC is certainly one possible way that the nature of Dark Matter might be discovered - but that won't prevent other scientists peering into large vats of liquid Xenon in deep gold mines, carrying out experiments on the ISS, measuring the strength of gravity more precisely, or peering into space with a variety of telescopes and cameras.
There is a Nobel Prize glimmering at the end of this rainbow! Everyone would like to be in the race.
PS: There are rumors that the LHC detector teams have already seen a "blip", but they don't like to talk about it publicly until they have detected many such events, and the statistical significance reaches "5σ" (and preferably, after they have some sort of explanation for this "blip").
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