The first outcomes from ORGAN eliminate a popular theory about the nature of dark matter, narrowing the possibilities for what it might be, according to UWA PhD trainee Aaron Quiskamp, from the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and Dark Matter Particle Physics.
” We carried out the most delicate search up until now for axion dark matter in a particular mass range,” he stated.
” Although we didnt discover any, its extremely exciting since its Australias first large-scale, long-lasting direct dark matter detection experiment.
” Its also provided us useful information about what axion dark matter isnt, which informs future axion searches throughout the world where not to look.”
Dr. Ben McAllister, a physicist at the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and Dark Matter Particle Physics, stated there are a lot of experiments around the globe checking various hypotheses regarding what dark matter is.
” Were attempting to eliminate all the possible candidates, and by the process of elimination determine which one is appropriate,” Dr. McAllister stated.
” Because we do not understand how heavy the axion is, if it even exists, we need numerous experiments searching the various mass ranges forecasted by the theory.”
The ORGAN Experiment is the very first to utilize a type of detector called an axion haloscope in this mass variety..
” The concept behind a haloscope is to attempt and identify the dark matter by transforming it into well-known particles called photons, which are like small little flashes of light,” Dr. McAllister said.
” When we do not see any little flashes, as was the case this time, we rather position exclusion limitations, where we rule out axions that our experiment would have been sensitive to. We inform the rest of the dark matter community no dark matter here and move on to browse for axions of a various mass.”.
Aaron said the group wants to begin their next search later this year.
” Were currently making technical improvements to our detector to accomplish higher sensitivity and enable wider-ranging searches,” he stated.
This research was supported by moneying from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and Dark Matter Particle Physics.
Australias first significant contribution to dark matter detection, the ORGAN Experiment, is now online and searching for dark matter, bringing us an action closer to fixing among the greatest secrets of the universe.
Although we may still remain in the dark about what dark matter is, we now have a better idea about what it isnt.
Australias very first significant contribution to dark matter detection– the ORGAN Experiment– is now online and looking for dark matter, bringing us a step better to resolving among the greatest secrets of deep space.
After 4 years of research and development, ORGAN has actually finished its first substantive look for axions– an appealing candidate for dark matter. ORGAN is hosted at The University of Western Australias Quantum Technologies and Dark Matter Laboratory.