Scientists Find First Signs of Dark Matter at LHC

Daily Tech ^ | February 1, 2011 1:45 PM | Jason Mick (Blog)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Discovery of dark matter's behavior would solve many outstanding mysteries in physics

Dark matter makes up five times more of the universe's mass that visible matter (~25% vs ~5%), yet scientists have yet to directly observe this ultra-abundant substance.  Scientists also have yet to observe dark energy, which may well beat out normal energy in universal abundance.  This lack of direct observations means that scientists no precious little about two of the most important physical components of our universe.

That could soon change.  CERN's Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile long circular underground track that is chilled to almost zero degrees Kelvin, is recording incredibly violent collisions, the likes of which haven't been seen since billions of years ago.  Those collisions will likely produce exotic substances like dark matter, which will be analyzed by the LHC's instruments, unlocking long debated mysteries of physics.

Scientists think they are making progress in the hunt for the SUSY – also known as supersymmetric particle, or 'sparticle'.  Scientists believe the sparticle may be the mysterious dark matter, given its theoretical stability.

[BenLurkin]

Large Hadron Rap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUg7AXgQwew

[The Comedian]

Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.

[The Cajun]

Just as I've always suspected, the cats are behind it.
Great picture for *Dark Matter* threads BTW :^)

[samtheman]

Excellent comments at the end of the article. Really worth reading. They feature a very good argument among the participants about whether the real issue is "dark matter" (or something like it) or problems with our current theory of gravity.

They also cover all the writing mistakes made by the author.

And one person even posts: "I am sparticles."

LOL!

[wolfman]

I sometimes think of dark matter as making up everything in the universe, including “regular” matter. Like a super fluid that fills every bit of the universe, there is no nothingness. Regular matter perhaps is just a form of this underlying “everything” formed in a vortice or perhaps in a black hole transforming energy into matter.