World's most sensitive detector set to spot dark matter

Washington: Scientists have employed a new set of calibration techniques upon the world' most sensitive dark matter detector that is hunting for dark matter - the unseen stuff believed to account for most of the matter in the universe.

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment, which operates nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, has already proven itself to be the most sensitive detector in the hunt for dark matter.

Now, a new set of calibration techniques employed by LUX scientists has dramatically improved the detector's sensitivity.

Researchers with LUX are looking for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) which are among the leading candidates for dark matter.

Scientists are confident that dark matter exists because the effects of its gravity can be seen in the rotation of galaxies and in the way light bends as it travels through the universe.

Because WIMPs are thought to interact with other matter only on very rare occasions, they have yet to be detected directly. LUX consists of one-third tonne of liquid xenon surrounded with sensitive light detectors.

It is designed to identify the very rare occasions when a dark matter particle collides with a xenon atom inside the detector.