Experimental results from the XENON1T dark matter detector limit the effective size of dark matter particles to 4.1 x 10-47 square centimeters -- one-trillionth of one-trillionth of a centimeter squared -- the most stringent limit yet determined for dark matter as established by the world's most sensitive detector.
The results, presented Monday in a seminar in Italy at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS), were produced using an active target volume of 1,300 kilograms of Xenon, the first search for dark matter that has monitored the equivalent of one ton of xenon for an entire year.
"We now have the tightest limit for what is known as 'the WIMP-nucleon cross section,' which is a measure of the effective size of dark matter, or how strongly it interacts with normal matter," said Ethan Brown, a member of the XENON Collaboration, and assistant professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "With these results, we have now tested many new theoretical models of dark matter and placed the strongest constraints on these models to date."
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