"I have predicted no real WIMPS because dark matter is a virtual fermion-antifermion pair effect inside the quantum vacuum." Jack Sarfatti
New results have come in from the Xenon100 experiment, a tub of cryogenically cooled liquid xenon buried 1400 metres down a mine at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory near L'Aquila, Italy that show no sign of WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles, the still-theoretical particles thought to make up the invisible majority of the universe's mass, a direct challenge to physicists who believe dark matter is made up of WIMPs, particles that carry mass but, as their name suggests, rarely interact with other particles. The project's previous results, presented over a year ago and based on just 100 days of data, came up empty.
The latest results, presented at the Dark Attack 2012 conference in Ascona, Switzerland, on 18 July, were based on 225 days of new data. The team used a detector that was 3.5 times as sensitive to the skittish particles as before. But the result still came up empty handed, producing zero WIMPS, suggesting that WIMPs are much lighter than theories originally predicted, or they're even more shy of ordinary matter than previosly thought.
To read more, click here.