Enlightening the dark: the XENON-1T Experiment I Kirsty
- hederahelixscience
- Dec 7, 2021
- 3 min read
A new study reported that some unexplained results from the XENON1T experiment in Italy may have been caused by dark energy, and not the dark matter the experiment
was designed to detect. The researchers constructed a model to try and help explain the results. The results may have originated from dark energy particles that have been produced in parts of the sun with strong magnetic fields, although future experiments will be required to confirm this explanation. The researchers say that their study could help to directly detect dark energy.
Everything our eyes can see makes up less than five percent of the universe. The rest is dark. About 27% is dark matter while 68% is dark energy, which causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate.
To detect dark energy, scientists generally look for gravitational interactions: the way gravity pulls objects around and On the largest scales scientists can look at the universe’s expansion accelerate as the effects of dark energy is repulsion pulling things away from each other.
We are far from fully understanding what dark energy is, but most physical models for dark energy would lead to the existence of a so-called fifth force, and no its not like the force in star wars. There are four fundamental forces in the universe, and anything that can't be explained by one of these forces is referred to as the result of a fifth force which is unknown. However scientists know that Einstein's theory of gravity works extremely well in the local universe. Therefore, any fifth force associated with dark energy is unwanted when it comes to small scales, and can only operate on the largest scales where Einstein's theory of gravity fails to explain the acceleration of the Universe.
About a year ago, the XENON1T experiment reported an unexpected signal over the expected background. The XENON1T is an experiment that takes place in Italy and its purpose is to detect dark matter.
During the experiment the XENON1T decor was filled with 3.2 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid xenon, 2.0 tonnes of which served as a target for particle interaction. When one of these particles crosses the target - an interaction - a tiny signal of light can be generated. Most of these interactions occur from particles that are known to exist. However when data of the experiment was compared to known backgrounds, a surprising excess of and extra 53 events over the expected 232 events was observed.
At the time, axions - hypothetical, extremely light particles -- produced in the Sun, where the most population explanation, but this explanation does not stand up to observations, since the amount of axions that would be required to explain the XENON1T signal would drastically alter the evolution of stars much heavier than the Sun which is in conflict with what we observe.
The scientists constructed a physics model which used a type of screen mechanism called – chameleon screening, to show that dark energy particles produced in the Sun's strong magnetic field could explain the XENON1T excess. The scientists used their model to show what would happen in the detector if the dark energy was produced in a particular region of the Sun, called the tachocline, where there are particularly strong magnetic fields.
The researchers' calculations suggest that experiments like XENON1T, which are designed to detect dark matter, could also be used to detect dark energy. However, the original excess still needs to be convincingly confirmed before this can go ahead.
If the excess was the result of dark energy, then other experiments happening which are pursuing similar goals such as the LUX-Zeplin and PandsX-xT could mean that in the next decade it could be possible to directly detect dark energy.
Sources : http://www.xenon1t.org/
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