The BREAD experiment enhances dark matter research by using a broadband, space-efficient style, leading the way for future clinical breakthroughs. Credit: SciTechDaily.comBREADs innovative approach to dark matter detection uses a coaxial “dish” antenna to scan for mysterious particles.One of the excellent mysteries of modern science is dark matter. We know dark matter exists thanks to its impacts on other items in the cosmos, but we have never ever been able to straight see it. And its no minor thing– currently, scientists believe it makes up about 85% of all the mass in the universe.A brand-new experiment by a cooperation led by the University of Chicago and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, called the Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection or BREAD, has released its first results in the look for dark matter in a research study released in Physical Review Letters. They did not find dark matter, they narrowed the restrictions for where it might be and demonstrated an unique approach that may speed up the search for the strange compound, at reasonably little space and cost.A rendering of the BREAD design. The Hersheys Kiss-shaped structure funnels potential dark matter signals to the copper-colored detector on the left. The detector is compact enough to fit on a tabletop. Credit: BREAD Collaboration”Were really excited about what weve been able to do so far,” said UChicago Assoc. Prof. David Miller, co-leader for the experiment alongside Fermilabs Andrew Sonnenschein, who initially developed the principle for the experiment. “There are lots of useful benefits to this design, and weve currently revealed the best level of sensitivity to date in this 11-12 ghz frequency.””This outcome is a turning point for our idea, demonstrating for the very first time the power of our approach,” said Fermilab postdoctoral scholar and study lead author Stefan Knirck, who spearheaded the construction and operation of the detector. “It is great to do this kind of innovative tabletop-scale science, where a small group can do everything from building the experiment to data analysis, however still have an excellent effect on modern-day particle physics.”Something Is ThereWhen we look around deep space, we can see that some kind of substance is putting in enough gravity to pull on galaxies and stars and passing light, but no telescope or device has ever directly got the source– for this reason the name dark matter.However, since nobody has actually ever seen dark matter, we dont even know precisely what it may appear like or even precisely where to try to find it. “Were really positive that something exists, but there are lots of, numerous types it might take,” stated Miller.Scientists have mapped out several of the most likely alternatives for forms and places to look. Generally, the technique has actually been to construct detectors to extremely completely search one specific area (in this case, set of frequencies) in order to rule it out.But a group of researchers explored a different approach. Their design is “broadband,” indicating that it can search a bigger set of possibilities, albeit with somewhat less accuracy.”If you believe about it like a radio, the search for dark matter resembles tuning the dial to browse for one particular radio station, other than there are a million frequencies to check through,” stated Miller. “Our method resembles doing a scan of 100,000 radio stations, instead of a couple of extremely thoroughly.”Fermilabs Stefan Knirck with elements of the BREAD detector. Credit: University of ChicagoA Proof of ConceptThe BREAD detector look for a specific subset of possibilities. Its constructed to look for dark matter in the kind of what are referred to as “axions” or “dark photons”– particles with very little masses that might be transformed into a visible photon under the best circumstances.Thus, BREAD consists of a metal tube consisting of a curved surface that captures and funnels prospective photons to a sensing unit at one end. The entire thing is little enough to fit your arms around, which is unusual for these kinds of experiments.In the full-scale variation, BREAD will be settled inside a magnet to produce a strong electromagnetic field, which ups the possibilities of converting dark matter particles into photons.For the evidence of principle, nevertheless, the group ran the experiment sans magnets. The cooperation ran the model gadget at UChicago for about a month and examined the data.The results are very promising, revealing really high sensitivity in the picked frequency, the scientists said.Since the results published in Physical Review Letters were accepted, BREAD has been moved inside a repurposed MRI magnet at Argonne National Laboratory and is taking more data. Its eventual home, at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will use an even stronger magnet.”This is simply the primary step in a series of exciting experiments we are preparing,” said Sonnenschein. “We have lots of concepts for improving the level of sensitivity of our axion search.””There are still a lot of open concerns in science, and an enormous space for innovative originalities for dealing with those concerns,” stated Miller. “I think this is a really hallmark example of those sort of creative ideas– in this case, impactful, collective collaborations in between smaller-scale science at universities and larger-scale science at national laboratories.”The BREAD instrument was built at Fermilab as part of the labs detector R&D program and after that operated at UChicago, where the data for this research study were collected. UChicago Ph.D college student Gabe Hoshino led the operation of the detector, in addition to undergraduate students Alex Lapuente and Mira Littmann.Argonne National Laboratory maintains a crucial magnet center that will be utilized for the next phase of the BREAD physics program. Other organizations, consisting of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Illinois Institute of Technology, MIT, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Washington, Caltech, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are working with UChicago and Fermilab on R&D for future variations of the experiment.Reference: “First Results from a Broadband Search for Dark Photon Dark Matter in the 44 to 52 μeV Range with a Coaxial Dish Antenna” by 28 March 2024, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.132.131004 Funding: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, University of Chicago Joint Task Force Initiative, Cambridge Junior Research Fellowship, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Porat Fellowship.
Credit: SciTechDaily.comBREADs innovative technique to dark matter detection utilizes a coaxial “dish” antenna to scan for mysterious particles.One of the terrific mysteries of modern-day science is dark matter. And its no minor thing– currently, scientists believe it makes up about 85% of all the mass in the universe.A new experiment by a partnership led by the University of Chicago and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, known as the Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection or BREAD, has actually launched its very first outcomes in the search for dark matter in a study published in Physical Review Letters. They did not discover dark matter, they narrowed the constraints for where it might be and demonstrated a special approach that may speed up the search for the mysterious compound, at relatively little area and cost.A making of the BREAD style. Its built to look for dark matter in the kind of what are known as “axions” or “dark photons”– particles with incredibly little masses that could be transformed into a noticeable photon under the ideal circumstances.Thus, BREAD consists of a metal tube containing a curved surface area that captures and funnels potential photons to a sensing unit at one end. Other institutions, consisting of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Illinois Institute of Technology, MIT, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Washington, Caltech, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are working with UChicago and Fermilab on R&D for future variations of the experiment.Reference: “First Results from a Broadband Search for Dark Photon Dark Matter in the 44 to 52 μeV Range with a Coaxial Dish Antenna” by 28 March 2024, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.132.131004 Funding: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, University of Chicago Joint Task Force Initiative, Cambridge Junior Research Fellowship, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Porat Fellowship.
