Dark Matter Lens This map shows the distribution of dark matter that created the gravitational lens observed by the Hubble telescope during the COSMOS survey. coutesy of Richard Massey and NASA

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.

The CDMS Facility: Searching for dark matter in Minnesota's deepest iron mine
Today's rumors started to spread after the blog Resonaances reported an embargoed physics paper due for publication in next week's issue of the journal Nature [see update below]. Physics papers rarely appear in that journal, except to announce a new discovery. And with a paper coming out of the CDMS experiment, the natural inference is that the article will announce the discovery of dark matter.

However, Uwe Oberlack, the Chair of Space Physics at Rice University, told us that the potential discovery doesn't represent a new event, so much as a new evaluation of old data.

Last year, an Italian detector called DAMA announced that it had discovered WIMPs, but through a different interaction than observed by the CDMS experiment. While the Italian claim came under attack from a number of different elements of the physics community, the idea of looking for WIMPs with this alternate reaction gained traction.

"There hasn't been any dramatic improvement in the CDMS experiment. They've just been collecting data. You need to be very lucky to find a signal [with their sensitivity]," said Oberlack. "Instead, they're probably looking different parts of their data for inelastic, not elastic, reactions."

And even if the CDMS does find evidence of WIMP interaction in their old data, it hardly closes the book on dark matter. For one, WIMPs aren't a single particle, but a class of particles, and no one knows how many different particle types, or behaviors, might make up the class. Additionally, some people believe that the phenomena called "dark matter" actually encompasses a range of particles and forces, of which WIMPs are only a part.

But most importantly, the CDMS experiment won't mean a thing if it isn't independently repeated and verified. Luckily, we might not have to wait that long for verification as an even more sensitive dark matter detector, the Xenon 100, goes online early next year.

Of course, we don't know if the CDMS detected anything, as the paper remains under wraps until next week. However, any physics paper in Nature is certain to cover some very important science. So, check back next week to find out of if we've finally found evidence of dark matter, or if the CDMS researchers have something totally unexpected up their sleeves.

Update: Nature contacted the source of the initial rumor, the blog Resonaances [see the "Important update" at the bottom], flatly denying any upcoming paper published in their journal by the CDMS team. Which certainly deflates the claim of a major, peer-reviewed finding and makes an incremental development on pre-existing data far more likely, if anything.

43 Comments

If an object has mass, it has some gravitational pull. Could dark matter help aid in creating artificial gravity or is not enough known about it yet to say

Since the object has mass then the gravity it created wouldn't be artificial. Artificial gravity would be a gravitational effect through some process that didn't require mass (energy is the likely substitute in this case).

artificial gravity could be caused by rotation and centripetal acceleration... but we are supposed to be talking about dark matter not artificial gravity...

or perhaps by condensing vast amounts of energy into matter such that it would have a temporary gravitational field before returning to energy.

Is anyone else reminded of a 4d structure passing through 3d space? Is this just a snapshot or was it a series of shots I wonder?

Another class of matter with it own forces eh....

maybe dark matter is all the matter in another universe whose brane (dimensional plane) is close enough to our brane for its gravity to leak into our universe.

it has been theorized that all forces (electricity,magnetism,gravity) should be about the same (very generalized), but gravity is particularly weak due to its potential to pass into/influence other dimensions.

You cant see it, none of that particular universes light or any other radiation or forces can be used to detect its matter... 'dark matter', but we know its there...its gravity has tremendous effects on our universe on a galactic scale.

We know Dark Matter is out there. So once these particles are found, or discovered what are the applications of such a thing? So much time and money is being spent looking for these particles. There has to be a reason for it all other than to just prove a theory. If a Dark Matter particle Is found, and then later contained What would it be used for?

I have my own theory's,

a miniture black hole maybe...

a miniature black hole sounds cool it would make it easier to clean up my room lol

maybe we could find a way to revers the effects of dark matter to repel objects

If dark matter has really been finally discovered, that's very cool. But there's something that makes up the vast majority of matter in the Universe, yet is so darned difficult to even detect? I can't just reach out and grab what makes up most of everything? That just sounds positively weird to me. I can't wrap my brain around that fact until now.

Hmmm, interesting. Even if dark matter is found, it could be a breakthrough in science. With all of the combined data we'll have something to go by when researching the whole subject. This kind of ties with the collider in Cern almost. Except that dark matter doesn't make a black hole.

I have plenty of dark matter they can come collect from my back yard.

Dark matter comes from the side opposite the business ends of dogs.

Xspot

from neverland

If we take a closed region of space, in given time, we can use E= M.C2 concept, as description of reality. There are two versions, one for mass at rest and other for it's relative motion, but basically they say the same. This equation is most interesting for me, because is so complex in reality and so simple in it's form, it can have many meanings.
There is one value missing from description, because is a matter of reference point itself. There is a force we know of, from very beginning of civilizations, but like gravity it's so simple, we hardly noticed it. If quantum gravity is a property of space, all EM forces are also part of this reference system and we can control them by fluid dynamic principles. Instead of anti gravity, we can use differences that naturally occur in gravity field, when different masses, volumes and energy forms are present. Nature try to keep this imbalances down, but we're smart creatures, we can break it down to a simple concepts and use them.
So I started to think about, if I can put blimp in space and if it could travel, perhaps even faster than light.
My idea is derived from a description of region of space, but in relation to negative space. Spacecraft could generate specific acceleration moment, by changing it's outside gravity center, trough inertial potential, arised from buoyancy difference between two different masses and pressures, induced by circulating EM current, wrapped around the ship on a way back in deconstructive wave pattern and repeating the process. Point is, negative space has a positive effect and can be created like a pulse, but than it must be deconstructed into EM energy, that can again be converted in another acceleration pulse, loosing very little energy in a closed loop process. I think it's possible to do it with a magnetic phase change in special configuration, but I'm still researching details, how to create a cheap home version model. Imagine jetpack, little bigger than you and hours of flying time, for a price of battery charge .)
Reading this article it strikes me, this could be how dark matter and energy are moving around.

You are right. Dark Matter dosn't create a black hole just by it self. Just as you have come to the conclusion that the super collider, and Dark Matter have a connection. I have come to the theory that scientist would like to see this particle sent through the collider.

If this is a truly re-writing physics laws then it would be reasonable to take a new look at our understanding of high energy nuclear safety.

Do you think maybe that the scientists at the CERN facility should not wait to do their experiments until they can verify what effect this dark matter may have with their experiments?

Or will those over-egoed cowboys again declare all is safe and insult anyone who questions them?

There are a few theories on here. I'd like to share mine, loosely formulated just 2 days prior to this announcement.

Dark matter cannot exist in the same space as matter (it will most likely not be found within our atmosphere for this reason).

Because actual matter and dark matter have a phobic relationship. The result is the vacuum of space and the grouping of matter.

This relationship forms the basis for 'gravity' on a universal scale.

Matter is racing away from Dark Matter to where there is no DM (where there is matter) or visa versa.

Taking my crack pot warblings to the next level dark matter is what is conceived as 'nothingness' in the vacuum of space stretched (to form a structure) due its universal struggle against matter. This structure is what limits the speed of light.

RE: Black holes

Created when there is a 'rip' in the 'structure' of dark matter (possibly existing in or itself forming another dimension, hence we have not been able to detect it). The result is that actual matter trys to fill the space (it's a rip in DM so within it DM is not present), as actual matter is effectively trying to 'escape' DM due to the phobic relationship between the two.

Black holes can destroy galaxies and as only just recently suggested in science, they spew out matter (IMO the matter that went in, after undergoing extreme forces inside the hole and then faced with more DM on the other side where the rip/hole ends.) In essence a rebirth. Black holes spewing out matter was 'announced' but I thought it was pretty obvious.... like a plug hole and draining water forcing air upwards and out. That gave rise to the confidence, albeit misguided confidence to post this theory.

I'd love to hear some thoughts, good or bad.

i don't know if people are educated enough to ignore the fact, or that people are just so careless...

but in case anyone in the future wonders WIMP stands for "weakly interacting MASSIVE particle"

a little editor critism

no one has discovered dark matter its just part of the fubar big bang theory that was made up to fix all the observations in space that dont fit the theory. there are a few other theories out there that dont need to make up phony particles to account for the universe as we see it today. take a look in to Plasma cosmology. The plasma theorists actually the scientific method instead of pure mathematical models to accurately predict observations in nature.

Mr.guy (not verified)

Cows are awesome!!!

^4. I completely agree with your theory. Exept I was not sure what you ment by the differance of matter (are u suggesting that there is no "empty" space, but space is always filled by either dark or regular matter.) one critism to your theory though is: if the phobic relationship is great enough to create black holes, wouldn't there be a many more black holes and a lower state of order in our universe than is already present

Is there any thing like empty space when even it has light particles etc. going through it?

anyone have ideas of what might happen if you were to quantumly teleport dark matter into the pineal gland? because i have an idea for achieving psychic teleportation through quantum teleprotation.

wanna explain this theory? sounds high unlikely but still interesting

It's pretty. That's all I really know.

Xspot

from neverland

Green Sun, by space you probably mean relative position between shapes of matter and some energy potencial diferences among them, and by photon a quant of energy, with unknown dimension, existing in static time. So photons traveling outside the universe are describing nothing and this would last forewer, since there is nothing to hit. Or gravity of Universe will eventualy bend them around and return them into Universe, like distorted pieces of hologram from another time and place.
I don't think empty space is nothing like eather or nothing as some volume, but nothing like a concept, how energy is aranged from moment, when some event happened, like a change in gravity field and energy potential in relation to previous value. Without memory, nothing would ever know where it is and how it looks like, so by by Kanzas, Alice.
It would be interesting to know, how much dark energy was around older, more distant galaxies and if there is a similar cloud of dark matter around the whole Universe. That would explain, if DM is eminating from within or outside the galaxies, from the center of the Sun or Earth or from the sky... Also, if light is bend when passing DM, how can action reaction acour, if there is no transfer of EM energy. If we can't superposition a particle, perhaps we could determine DM, because light shouldn't interfere with observation, but mass is a problem, because it would depend of gravity and acceleration reference frame, coused by measurement place and conditions. So artificial gravity center of DM could move, when photons passing trough field change refractive index of light, shaping path and preassure of DM in effect, I think.

These are exciting times in the psychics world. Today dark matter, tomorrow dark energy.

Dark matter might can be used to power the united states of
america.

Errr. If anything went wrong with the Dark Matter plant, itcould extinguish all life and destroy the planet. Too much gravity, no mass. Deadly combination.

P.S. Y'all are nerds. LOL ▐ ▐
W

I think the coming onlie of Xenon 100 will change the game for the discovery of Dark matter which has proven to be extremely elusive so far. Did they announce the Dark Matter anyway?

- www.smugbox.com

It is amusing that so many of us have jumped on the bandwagon of something that was "created" to make up for our lack of understanding of gravity. Instead of saying, we don't understand the full mechanics of gravity, we instead make up something to fill the vacuum of our understanding, and throw billions of dollars to only realize we still don't understand. I'm not saying that it is a waste of money, because, it will ultimately progress our understanding by elimination or discovery. It is my prediction that there is no such thing as dark matter or the Higgs boson, but instead, both are intrinsic properties of gravity.

subject dark matter:a scientist sits at a machine,and opens a file simular to a stack of disks.the scientist opens a space inbetween and inserts a pinpoint of light.this starts a big bang,which starts a war between dark,and light.light pushes against darkness until an equiliberium is reached.this war goes on within,and without.next picture a river without banks in the vastness of space,this is the river of conscienceness,possilbly,god,darkmatter.

@Xspot the ultimate effect that is gravity that is occuring through the empty black area of space, even though it is so far impossible to prove that there may be a more complex form there other than just what we refer to as "gravity" but possibly the effect that is happening to make gravity could be far more complex than it appears. i like how you called the earth bouyant in one of your other comments. bouyent is a perfect way to describe how the earth also is loaded with this invisible matter that's on an unreachably small scale, but is created with the atoms that are on the larger scale that we do recognize. it's like the universe is an ocean of dark matter and we're floating around in it. and in another comment i read form you, you talk about cloaking something in this matter and have the larger atoms that we function with on the inside. just like a submarine! perhaps there is a way that we could probe down through this invisible dark matter, by using something like the hadron colider to create a small enough point or probe to reach inside the matter, and open it up and cover ourselves in it. to pull it out and cover the atoms we use. it sounds like a pretty tricky task, but its a theory. it would be like making a fully operable submarine completly wile underwater.

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Artificial gravity could be caused by rotation and centripetal acceleration... but we are supposed to be talking about dark matter not artificial gravity.
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The discovery and observation of WIMPs could lead to a rewriting of the most basic laws in both particle physics and astronomy.
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Dark matter is so crazy!

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You know the comments are bad when you find yourself hoping for some blog spam comments to raise the intellectual level of the discussion. The guy who posted "Cows are awesome!!" made more sense than most of the comments on here.

I'm not going to bang my head against the wall here too much, but people should at least understand that the word "theory", when it comes to science, does not just mean some random jumble of ideas that just occurred to someone.

A theory is a connected system of ideas, backed up by serious math, math using symbols you haven't even heard of, that explains observations of our world, and makes testable predictions about it.

When you say, "Maybe the dark matter could be sent through the large hadron collider and mixed with Higgs bosons, and then passed through a black hole and it would come out as light matter in a parallel dimension and cause antigravity," that is not a theory. That is not even a hypothesis. That is what psychiatrists call a "word salad" and it is a symptom of some mental conditions.

Is anyone else reminded of a 4d structure passing through 3d space? Is this just a snapshot or was it a series of shots I wonder?
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Is anyone else reminded of a 4d structure passing through 3d space? Is this just a snapshot or was it a series of shots I wonder?
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