* Astronomy

PICO dark matter detector more sensitive than expected

Although invisible to our telescopes, dark matter is known by its gravitational effects throughout the universe. The nature of dark matter is unknown, but the consensus of the astrophysics and particle physics communities is that the dark matter is composed of new fundamental particles, associated with an unknown area of physics. To detect this dark matter, scientists are using instruments called bubble chambers, among other strategies. And now a team has made one that has the world's best sensitivity to date, coming in at 17 times that of its most recent predecessor.
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