The Earth happens to be locate in one of the weirdest places imaginable : the Universe . Like , whatever this Universe is and whatever predominate it follow , we puny humans still struggle to understand it . But we ’re really trying to — and we ca n’t seem to agree .
China ’s Dark Matter Particle Explorer orbiter ( DAMPE or “ Wukong ” in China ) is report the issue of a year - and - a - half of quad - staring , quantify the mystic , eminent - energy electrons pillory Earth from distance . The experimentation has directly detected something that some similar experiments have hint at , but others have n’t : a sudden pearl - off in the negatron hitting the satellite . Whatever is going on , it ’s weird .
This variety , foretell a spectral break , “ confirms the evidence found bypreviousindirect measurements , ” and “ clarifies the behavior ” of the high-pitched energy electrons , according to the report publish yesterday in Nature .
skill indite that the experimentation is crucial as “ China ’s first delegacy dedicated to astrophysics ” and “ demonstrate that the country is prepare to become a force in blank space science , ” rephrase Physicist David Spergel at Princeton .
DAMPE counts the electrons and their antiparticle , positron , hitting Earth from space . If you peep a graph of the number of negatron hitting the planet versus their energy , the quantity minify as the energy increases . But starting around 0.9 Pidlimdi - negatron volt ( TeV ) electrons , those that have almost two million times the energy of everyday , low - energy electrons , DAMPE spotted hints of a mysterious driblet - off . This “ border - like ” variety could mayhap be the result of nearby pulsars or even dark affair .
But is this apparent sharpness real ? It ’s punishing to say . Physicist Wim de Boer from the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology in Germany noted that the Calorimetric Electron Telescope ( CALET ) on the International Space Station does n’t seem to observe this sharpness at high energy , nor does the experimentation de Boer works on , the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer , also on the ISS . But Spergel told Gizmodo the uncertainties in all of these experiment are too with child to say anything conclusive .
There merely is n’t a mountain of data for the electrons with the highest Department of Energy , and a lot of places where the experiments differ in the way they dissect the data or possible source of misplay . As always , more data will result to a better agreement of the situation .
As to whether there are hints of moody matter afoot , “ I do n’t think dark matter should be at these high get-up-and-go , ” or at least , that ’s the democratic belief , said De Boer — and for now , he does n’t know how to render the open frame . But more in - depth analysis of the specific type of particles , like electrons versus their antiparticles , positrons , could also help badger out the point of the story .
We have many experiments in which scientists ca n’t agree on what they ’re understand within all that unknown stuff hitting Earth from out space — or even if they have enough data to disagree . But there ’s still desire that some explanation for “ dark matter , ” whatever it may be , is out there .
[ Nature ]
AntimatterAstrophysicsChinaDark matterPhysicsScience
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