Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




STELLAR CHEMISTRY
First dark matter results from underground China lab hosting PandaX-I
by Staff Writers
Beijing (SPX) Oct 01, 2014


The front cover of 2014 No. 11 issue of SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy -- first dark matter search results from the PandaX-I experiment. Image courtesy Science China Press.

Scientists across China and the United States collaborating on the PandaX search for dark matter from an underground lab in southwestern China report results from the first stage of the experiment in a new study published in the Beijing-based journal SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy.

PandaX is the first dark matter experiment in China that deploys more than one hundred kilograms of xenon as a detector; the project is designed to monitor potential collisions between xenon nucleons and weakly interactive massive particles, hypothesized candidates for dark matter.

In the new study, scientists explain, "Dark matter is a leading candidate to explain gravitational effects observed in galactic rotational curves, galaxy clusters, and large scale structure formation."

"Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a particular class of dark matter candidates, are interesting in particle physics and can be studied in colliders [and in] indirect and direct detection experiments."

If confirmed, dark matter particles would extend understanding of the fundamental building blocks of nature beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, and would provide support for theories on supersymmetry and extra dimensions of space-time.

"Direct positive detection of WIMPs using ultra-low background detectors in deep underground laboratories would provide convincing evidence of dark matter in our solar system and allow the probing of fundamental properties of WIMPs," they add in the new study.

Direct detection experiments using different technologies have produced many interesting results, but not universally confirmed evidence of weakly interacting massive particles. These results have produced much excitement across the global scientific community and call for further examination of WIMP signals through other experiments.

"In recent years, new techniques using noble liquids (xenon, argon) have shown exceptional potential due to the capability of background suppression and discrimination, and scalability to large target masses," state the PandaX collaborators.

"The XENON10/100 and LUX experiments using the dual-phase technique have improved WIMP detection sensitivity by more than two orders of magnitude in a wide mass range."

China's PandaX experiment, operated at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory, uses the dual-phase xenon technique to search for both low and high mass WIMP dark matter.

The initial success of the PandaX project demonstrates China has joined the global competition at the scientific frontier marking dark matter searches.

Today more than twenty dark matter search experiments are being conducted worldwide. Many dark matter search experiments, such as the DAMA/LIBRA experiment in Italy, the CoGeNT and CDMS experiments in the US, and the German-led CRESST experiment have reported findings that could be interpreted as positive signals of dark matter in recent years.

The PandaX collaboration joins this effort with results from a dark matter search that started in May of 2014.

No dark matter signal was observed in the first PandaX-I run, which places strong constraints on all previously reported dark matter-like signals from other similar types of experiments.

The PandaX experiment to date has collected about 4 million raw events; only about ten thousand events fell into the energy region of interest for dark matter. In the quiet central part of the xenon target only 46 events were observed.

However, the data from these 46 events was consistent with signals marking background radiation, not dark matter.

PandaX stands for Particle and Astrophysical Xenon Detector. The experiment is being conducted by an international team of about 40 scientists, and led by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The goal of the first stage of PandaX experiment is to examine previously reported dark matter-like signals. The scale of the PandaX-I experiment is second only to that of LUX, which is currently the planet's largest dark matter experiment and is located in a South Dakota mine in the US.

To shield the Chinese experiment from cosmic rays, the PandaX detector is located at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL), the deepest underground laboratory in the world. CJPL was developed by Tsinghua University and the Yalong River Hydropower Development Company in 2010.

Xiao M J, Xiao X, Zhao L, et al. First dark matter search results from the PandaX-I experiment. Sci China-Phys Mech Astron, 2014, 57: 2024-2030, doi: 10.1007/s11433-014-5598-7

.


Related Links
SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Particle detector finds hints of dark matter in space
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 25, 2014
Researchers at MIT's Laboratory for Nuclear Science have released new measurements that promise to shed light on the origin of dark matter. The MIT group leads an international collaboration of scientists that analyzed two and a half years' worth of data taken by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) - a large particle detector mounted on the exterior of the International Space Station - t ... read more


STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Turning the Moon into a cosmic ray detector

Russia to Launch Full-Scale Moon Exploration Next Decade

Lunar explorers will walk at higher speeds than thought

Year's final supermoon is a Harvest Moon

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
US, India to Collaborate on Earth, Mars Missions

Sandblasting winds shift Mars' landscape: study

Opportunity's Heading to a Small Crater Called 'Ulysses'

India's Mars Orbiter Cost Only 11 Percent of NASA's Maven Probe: Reports

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Waypoint 2 Space Partners with Final Frontier Training Suits

Chinese Company to Create High-Altitude Space Balloon: Reports

Crew selected for eight-month Mars simulation

Galactic getaway

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
China Successfully Orbits Experimental Satellite

China's first space lab in operation for over 1000 days

China Exclusive: Mars: China's next goal?

Astronauts eye China's future space station

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Cold Atom Laboratory Chills Atoms to New Lows

NASA Expands Commercial Space Program

Yelena Serova becomes first Russian woman aboard space station

Crew including first woman cosmonaut in 17 years blasts off for ISS

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Proton Failure Review Board Concludes Investigation

Arianespace's lightweight Vega launcher is readied for its mission with the European IXV spaceplane

Soyuz Rocket Awaiting Launch at Baikonur Cosmodrome

Elon Musk, Rick Perry attend groundbreaking for Texas spaceport

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New milestone in the search for water on distant planets

Clear skies on exo-Neptune

Distant planet's atmosphere shows evidence of water vapor

Chandra Finds Planet That Makes Star Act Deceptively Old

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
EIAST launches its Advanced Aerial Systems Program

Space debris expert warns of increasing CubeSat collision risk

France taps Thales for radar antenna research project

Fed Up With Federal Inaction, States Act Alone on Cap-and-Trade




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.