A graphic representation of how semi-visible jets will appear in the ATLAS detector, need to they exist. Credit: CERN
Working at the ATLAS experiment at CERN, Kar and his former PhD student, Sukanya Sinha (now a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Manchester), have actually pioneered a new way of looking for dark matter. Their research has actually been released in the journal, Physics Letters B.
A New Approach to Unraveling Dark Matter
” There have actually been a wide variety of collider look for dark matter over the past few years so far have actually focused on weakly connecting massive particles, termed WIMPs,” states Kar. “WIMPS is one class of particles that are assumed to discuss dark matter as they do not soak up or give off light and dont connect strongly with other particles. Nevertheless, as no evidence of WIMPS has actually been discovered up until now, we realized that the look for dark matter required a paradigm shift.”
Dr. Sukanya Sinha and Professor Deepak Kar. Credit: Wits University
” What we were questioning, was whether dark matter particles in fact are produced inside a jet of standard design particles,” stated Kar. This resulted in the exploration of a new detector signature known as semi-visible jets, which researchers never ever looked at in the past.
High energy crashes of protons typically result in the production of a collimated spray of particles, gathered in what is described as jets, from the decay of ordinary quarks or gluons. Semi-visible jets would occur when theoretical dark quarks decay partially to Standard-Model quarks (known particles) and partially to steady dark hadrons (the “unnoticeable portion”).
This makes look for semi-visible jets very tough, as this event signature can likewise develop due to mis-measured jets in the detector. Kar and Sinhas brand-new way of trying to find dark matter opens up brand-new instructions in trying to find the existence of dark matter.
” Even though my PhD thesis does not include a discovery of dark matter, it sets the first and rather stringent upper bounds on this production mode, and already inspiring further studies,” says Sinha.
The ATLAS Collaboration at CERN has actually highlighted this as one of the flagship results to come out at summer season conferences.
Reference: “Search for non-resonant production of semi-visible jets utilizing Run 2 data in ATLAS” by The ATLAS Collaboration, 11 November 2023, Physics Letters B.DOI: 10.1016/ j.physletb.2023.138324.
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe, like the ATLAS calorimeter seen here, are offering more accurate measurements of fundamental particles. Credit: Maximilien Brice, CERN.
The ATLAS experiment.
The ATLAS experiment is one of the most substantial clinical endeavors at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Its a crucial part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the worlds largest and most effective particle accelerator. Located near Geneva, ATLAS means “A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS” and is concentrated on probing basic aspects of physics.
Amongst its main goals is the investigation of the Higgs boson, the particle associated with the Higgs field, which gives other particles their mass. The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, a joint effort by ATLAS and the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment, was a landmark accomplishment in physics.
The experiment likewise browses for signs of brand-new physics, consisting of the origins of mass, extra dimensions, and particles that could comprise dark matter. When protons collide at nearly the speed of light within the LHC, atlas does this by analyzing the myriad particles produced.
The detector is made up of various layers, each developed to spot different types of particles produced by the proton-proton crashes. It consists of a variety of innovations: trackers to find the paths of particles, calorimeters to determine their energy, and muon spectrometers to recognize and measure muons, a type of heavy electron that is key to lots of physics investigations.
The data collected by ATLAS is enormous, often explained in terms of petabytes. This information is analyzed by a global neighborhood of researchers, contributing to our understanding of basic physics and possibly leading to new discoveries and technologies.
Scientists at CERNs ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider have actually introduced a novel method to search for Dark Matter through semi-visible jets, marking a substantial paradigm shift in the field. Their work provides brand-new directions and rigid upper bounds in the ongoing mission to comprehend dark matter.
Scientists examine whether dark matter particles in fact are produced inside a jet of standard model particles.
Dark matter makes up about a quarter of our universe, yet it does not connect considerably with regular matter. The existence of dark matter has been a question that high energy and astrophysicists around the world have actually been investigating for decades.
Improvements in Dark Matter Research
” This is the reason we research in standard science, penetrating the deepest mysteries of the universe. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the largest experiment ever built, and particle collisions producing big-bang-like conditions can be made use of to look for tips of dark matter,” states Professor Deepak Kar, from the School of Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dark matter makes up about a quarter of our universe, yet it does not engage substantially with ordinary matter.” There have been a huge selection of collider searches for dark matter over the past couple of years so far have actually focused on weakly interacting massive particles, called WIMPs,” states Kar. “WIMPS is one class of particles that are hypothesized to explain dark matter as they do not soak up or emit light and dont communicate highly with other particles. As no proof of WIMPS has been found so far, we realized that the search for dark matter needed a paradigm shift.”
Semi-visible jets would occur when theoretical dark quarks decay partially to Standard-Model quarks (understood particles) and partially to stable dark hadrons (the “invisible portion”).