Yu-Dai Tsai, a particle physics and cosmology researcher at the University of California, Irvine, has been eyeing a region between Mercury and the sun as a potential hot spot for dark matter detection.
In a paper appearing in Nature Astronomy, Tsai and his collaborators at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe and the University of Delaware proposed the Space Quantum mission. SpaceQ, as it is called, involves the positioning of atomic clocks on a spacecraft in the inner reaches of the solar system to help find particles that have eluded researchers over decades of experiments and attempts at observation.
“Dark matter has gravitational effects on galaxy dynamics and evolution; we just have yet to understand its particle nature and other influences,” said Tsai, a postdoctoral fellow in UCI’s Department of Physics & Astronomy. “Atomic clocks on a spacecraft launched to a region between the sun and Mercury may give us a better chance in detecting dark matter directly.”
Ultralight dark matter particles are expected to exhibit wavelike properties and have very small masses. They are thought to be capable of inducing oscillations in other fundamental particles, such as electrons. They’re also anticipated to cause perturbations in the very forces of nature, including the electromagnetic force. The researchers are confident that the highly precise atomic timepieces onboard a satellite close to the sun have the sensitivity to measure these slight changes.
The placement of the mission close to the sun is a new angle to find the elusive dark matter, according to Tsai.
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