First experimental evidence of a new type of dark boson possibly found

Two experiments hunting for a whisper of a particle that prevents whole galaxies from flying apart recently published some contradictory results. One came up empty handed, while the other gives us every reason to keep on searching.

more…

Tau.Neutrino said:

First experimental evidence of a new type of dark boson possibly found

> Two experiments hunting for (dark matter) recently published some contradictory results. One came up empty handed, while the other gives us every reason to keep on searching.

Oh dear.

> The two studies – one led by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the other by Aarhus University in Denmark – looked for subtle differences in the positioning of an electron in an isotope as it jumped between energy levels. If it swayed, this could be a telltale sign of a dark boson’s nudge.

> The MIT-led team used a handful of ytterbium isotopes for their experiment, while calcium was the element of choice for the Aarhus University-led group.

Interesting, I hadn’t heard of either of these.

> the XENON1T dark matter setup … dark matter candidate called an axion.

That’s different.

> In 2016, a type of dark matter candidate called a Madala Boson was rumored to have been spotted among data collected by the Large Hadron Collider in its search for the Higgs particle. This particle could be thought of as a kind of dark version of the Higgs boson, lending dark matter its strength without making itself clear in any other way. CERN threw cold water over that bit of gossip, sad to say.

I wonder if anyone has been keeping track of how many experiments claim to have shown the existence of a dark matter particle, later shown to be false. My count is five so far.