Has Dark Matter Finally Been Detected On Earth?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - 13:42 in Astronomy & Space

For the past six years, the CDMS, the world's most sensitive dark matter detector, sat deep beneath the Minnesotan countryside, watching super-cooled Germanium crystals for evidence of material abundant in the Universe, but almost non-existent on Earth. Today, rumors are flying on the Web that the team has finally found the weakly interacting particles (WIMPs) that physicists have long searched for, which could be the key to understanding the fundamental makeup of the universe. Dark matter, a substance that can't be seen in space but contributes a gravitational pull strong enough to shape galaxies, has never been observed directly. Physicist believe that WIMPs, a theoretical class of particles 100 times heavier than protons, make up the majority of dark matter. The discovery and observation of WIMPs could lead to a rewriting of the most basic laws in both particle physics and astronomy. Today's rumors started to spread after the blog Resonaances...

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