Scientists have realized a terrific deal concerning the universe, but that information represents solely a small fraction of the total image. Roughly 95% of the cosmos is made up of darkish matter and darkish power, leaving simply 5% because the acquainted matter we are able to see round us. Dr. Rupak Mahapatra, an experimental particle physicist at Texas A&M College, is working to uncover this hidden majority by designing superior semiconductor detectors outfitted with cryogenic quantum sensors. These applied sciences assist experiments all over the world and are serving to researchers push deeper into one among science’s best mysteries.
Mahapatra compares humanity’s restricted understanding of the universe — or lack thereof — to a widely known parable. “It is like making an attempt to explain an elephant by solely touching its tail. We sense one thing huge and sophisticated, however we’re solely greedy a tiny a part of it.”
Mahapatra and his co-authors lately had their work featured within the revered journal Utilized Physics Letters.
What Are Darkish Matter and Darkish Vitality?
Darkish matter and darkish power are named for what scientists don’t but learn about them. Darkish matter makes up many of the mass present in galaxies and galaxy clusters, enjoying a serious function in shaping their construction throughout huge cosmic distances. Darkish power refers back to the drive behind the universe’s accelerating enlargement. Put merely, darkish matter acts like cosmic glue, whereas darkish power drives area itself to develop sooner and sooner.
Though each are plentiful, neither darkish matter nor darkish power provides off, absorbs, or displays gentle, which makes direct statement extraordinarily tough. Scientists as a substitute research their affect by gravity, which impacts how galaxies transfer and the way large-scale constructions type. Darkish power is the dominant part, accounting for about 68% of the universe’s whole power, whereas darkish matter contributes roughly 27%.
Detecting Whispers in a Hurricane
At Texas A&M, Mahapatra’s analysis group is growing detectors with extraordinary sensitivity. These devices are designed to detect particles that work together with atypical matter solely on uncommon events, interactions that would present crucial clues concerning the nature of darkish matter.
“The problem is that darkish matter interacts so weakly that we want detectors able to seeing occasions that may occur as soon as in a yr, and even as soon as in a decade,” Mahapatra mentioned.
His staff performed a task in a number one international darkish matter search utilizing a detector referred to as TESSERACT. “It is about innovation,” he mentioned. “We’re discovering methods to amplify indicators that had been beforehand buried in noise.”
Texas A&M is amongst a small group of establishments collaborating within the TESSERACT experiments.
Pushing the Limits of Detection
Mahapatra’s present efforts construct on many years of expertise in advancing particle detection strategies. For the previous 25 years, he has contributed to the SuperCDMS experiment, which has carried out a number of the most delicate darkish matter searches on the earth. In a landmark 2014 paper printed in Bodily Evaluate Letters, Mahapatra and his collaborators launched voltage-assisted calorimetric ionization detection within the SuperCDMS experiment — a breakthrough that made it attainable to check low-mass WIMPs, a number one darkish matter candidate. This advance considerably improved scientists’ capacity to detect particles that had beforehand been past attain.
In 2022, Mahapatra co-authored one other research inspecting a number of approaches to discovering a WIMP, together with direct detection, oblique detection and collider searches. The work highlights the significance of mixing totally different methods to sort out the darkish matter downside.
“No single experiment will give us all of the solutions,” Mahapatra notes. “We’d like synergy between totally different strategies to piece collectively the total image.”
Understanding darkish matter goes far past educational curiosity. It might reveal elementary ideas that govern the universe itself. “If we are able to detect darkish matter, we’ll open a brand new chapter in physics,” Mahapatra mentioned. “The search wants extraordinarily delicate sensing applied sciences and it might result in applied sciences we will not even think about in the present day.”
What Are WIMPs?
WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Huge Particles) are thought-about one of the crucial promising prospects for darkish matter. These hypothetical particles would work together by gravity and the weak nuclear drive, which explains why they’re so tough to detect.
- Why they matter: If WIMPs exist, they may account for the universe’s lacking mass.
- How we search: Experiments resembling SuperCDMS and TESSERACT depend on ultra-sensitive detectors cooled to just about absolute zero to seize uncommon interactions between WIMPs and atypical matter.
- The problem: A WIMP might cross by Earth with out leaving any signal in any respect, which means researchers might have years of knowledge to determine even a single occasion.
