Credit: SciTechDaily.comSince its discovery, dark matter has continued to elude detection by scientists, even with the release of multiple ultra-sensitive particle detector experiments around the world over numerous decades.Now, physicists at the Department of Energys (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are proposing a new method to look for dark matter using quantum gadgets, which might be naturally tuned to discover what researchers call thermalized dark matter.Most dark matter experiments hunt for galactic dark matter, which rockets into Earth directly from space, however another kind might have been hanging around Earth for years, said SLAC physicist Rebecca Leane, who was an author on the brand-new study. Thermalized dark matter moves much more gradually than galactic dark matter, meaning it would impart far less energy than galactic dark matter– most likely too little for conventional detectors to see.Quantum Detection PossibilitiesWith that in mind, Leane and SLAC postdoctoral fellow Anirban Das reached out to Noah Kurinsky, a staff scientist at SLAC and leader of a brand-new lab focused on detecting dark matter with quantum sensing units, who had actually been believing about a puzzle: Even when superconductors are cooled to absolute no, removing all of the energy out of the system and developing a stable quantum state, somehow energy reenters and disrupts the quantum state.Typically, researchers presume thats due to the fact that of imperfect cooling systems or some source of heat in the environment, stated Kurinksy. According to their calculations, the minimum energy required to trigger a quantum sensing unit is low enough– around one-thousandth of an electron volt– that it might discover low-energy galactic dark matter as well as thermalized dark matter particles hanging around Earth.Of course, that doesnt imply that dark matter is to blame for disrupted quantum gadgets– only that it is possible.
Physicists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are checking out a new approach to find dark matter utilizing quantum devices, focusing on a lesser-known kind called thermalized dark matter. Their approach involves using quantum sensing units, typically disrupted by unexplained energy invasions, to possibly discover dark matters subtle energy impacts. This ingenious research study leverages the distinct capabilities of quantum technology to possibly fix the long-standing secret of dark matter detection. Credit: SciTechDaily.comSince its discovery, dark matter has actually continued to avoid detection by researchers, even with the release of multiple ultra-sensitive particle detector experiments around the world over a number of decades.Now, physicists at the Department of Energys (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are proposing a new method to search for dark matter using quantum gadgets, which may be naturally tuned to identify what scientists call thermalized dark matter.Most dark matter experiments hunt for galactic dark matter, which rockets into Earth directly from space, however another kind might have been spending time Earth for several years, said SLAC physicist Rebecca Leane, who was an author on the brand-new research study.”Dark matter goes into the Earth, bounces around a lot, and ultimately just gets trapped by the gravitational field of the Earth,” Leane stated, bringing it into an equilibrium scientists describe as thermalized. With time, this thermalized dark matter develops to a higher density than the few loose, stellar particles, implying that it could be most likely to strike a detector. Regrettably, thermalized dark matter moves a lot more slowly than galactic dark matter, meaning it would impart far less energy than stellar dark matter– likely insufficient for standard detectors to see.Quantum Detection PossibilitiesWith that in mind, Leane and SLAC postdoctoral fellow Anirban Das connected to Noah Kurinsky, a staff researcher at SLAC and leader of a new lab focused on identifying dark matter with quantum sensors, who had actually been thinking of a puzzle: Even when superconductors are cooled to absolute no, getting rid of all of the energy out of the system and creating a stable quantum state, somehow energy reenters and disrupts the quantum state.Typically, scientists assume thats because of imperfect cooling systems or some source of heat in the environment, stated Kurinksy. But there could be another factor, he stated: “What if we in fact have a perfectly cold system, and the factor we cant cool it down efficiently is because its continuously being bombarded by dark matter?”Das, Kurinsky, and Leane questioned whether superconducting quantum devices might be redesigned as thermalized dark matter detectors. According to their computations, the minimum energy needed to trigger a quantum sensing unit is low enough– around one-thousandth of an electron volt– that it might find low-energy galactic dark matter along with thermalized dark matter particles spending time Earth.Of course, that does not suggest that dark matter is to blame for interrupted quantum devices– just that it is possible. The next action, Leane and Kurinsky said, is to figure out if and how they can turn sensitive quantum gadgets into dark matter detectors.With that, there are a couple of things to consider. For beginners, possibly there is a better product to make the device out of. “We were looking at aluminum to start with, and thats just because thats most likely the best-characterized material thats been utilized for detectors so far,” stated Leane. “But it might turn out that for the sort of mass range were looking at, and the sort of detector we wish to utilize, perhaps theres a much better product.”Theres likewise a possibility that thermalized dark matter wouldnt interact with a quantum gadget the exact same method stellar dark matter is suspected to interact with direct detection devices, Leane said. “In this research study, we were just thinking about a basic case for dark matter can be found in and bouncing straight off the detector, but it could do a great deal of other things.” Other particles could engage with dark matter that alter the method the particles in the detector are distributed.”This is among the fantastic things about being at SLAC,” Leane states. “We really have quite a varied variety of groups dealing with a great deal of different science, and I seem like this job is a truly great synergy of the research study at SLAC.”Reference: “Dark Matter Induced Power in Quantum Devices” by Anirban Das, Noah Kurinsky and Rebecca K. Leane, 22 March 2024, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.132.121801 The research was moneyed by the DOE Office of Science.
