Scientists expected to unveil the discovery of dark matter

By Claire Bates
Updated:

Physicists have detected a particle of dark matter for the first time in human history, according to rumours buzzing around the internet.

Should it prove correct the finding would have an Earth-shattering effect on our understanding of how galaxies form.

Enlarge   dark matter

This dark matter map was created by the Hubble Telescope by measuring light from distant stars thought to have been deflected by dark matter. The map of half the Universe reveals dark matter filaments, collapsing under the relentless pull of gravity and growing clumpier over time

Dark matter is believed to make up 90 per cent of the mass of the Universe. We can't see it but scientists think it is there due to the gravitational force it exerts.

It could help account for the 'missing mass' in the Universe that would explain why galaxies rotate at their current speeds.

Scientists have searched for evidence of the hypothetical matter since the 1970s both on Earth and in space.

A number of experiments have focused on finding Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which are thought to make up dark matter.

If dark matter exists then a large number of these particles, released by the Big Bang, must pass through the Earth each second.

The difficulty is they are thought to barely register when they pass through matter.

One of the experiments searching for WIMPs is taking place in the Soudan Underground Laboratory, half-a-mile down a Minnesota mine.

This protects the ultra-cold germanium and silicon detectors from the hail of cosmic rays that strike Earth every day. It is believed these crystals, the size of hockey pucks, will vibrate if struck by a WIMP.

The Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is expected to create Big Bang conditions next month. It is hoped the accelerator will create dark matter particles

This week news leaked onto a physics blog that researchers from this Cryogenic Dark Matter Search will publish some important results in the next edition of the journal Nature.

Physics papers rarely appear in that journal, except to announce a new discovery.

The New Scientist has also reported that talks have hurriedly been scheduled for 18 December at SLAC National Laboratory, the University of California Santa Barbara and Fermilab - all prominent institutions within the CDMS collaboration.

If the rumours turn out to be false, scientists must wait for the Large Hadron Collider to get up and running in January next year. It is hoped the particle accelerator will produce conditions that existed straight after the Big Bang, including dark matter particles.

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