Scientists conducting experiments within the XENON1T substance Detector, in Italy were trying to find dark matter but may have found dark energy particles. A number of the unexplained results may point to dark energy particles produced within the magnetically strong region of the Sun.
“Despite both components being invisible, we all know tons more about dark matter, since its existence was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn’t discovered until 1998,”
Dr. Sunny Vagnozzi
Dr. Vagnozzi is the paper’s first author and currently works at the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge.
What is Dark Energy?
We know all the items that we see are made from matter. Would you be surprised to know that matter makes up only but 5% of the universe? Dark matter constitutes about 27% of the universe. The remainder of 68% of the universe is formed from the elusive dark energy. We all know more about dark matter than dark energy, of which most of the universe is composed of. The little that we do know is that dark energy causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate over time. This means that the universe is expanding at a way faster rate than it had been around 7.5 billion years ago.
The large-scale effect of dark energy is often the opposite of gravity. Gravity pulls objects together, and dark energy is repulsive. Consequently, to detect dark energy, scientists search for gravitational interactions; how bodies are affected by gravity.
The XENON1T Experiment
Scientists trying to find dark matter a year ago found an unexpected signal, or excess, over the expected background.
“These sorts of excesses are often flukes, but once in a while they can also lead to fundamental discoveries. We explored a model in which this signal could be attributable to dark energy, rather than the dark matter the experiment was originally devised to detect ”
Dr. Luca Visinelli
Dr. Visinelli is a co-author and is currently a researcher at Frascati National Laboratories in Italy.
The most popular explanation for this observation at the time was assumed to be axions; these are hypothetical extremely light particles that are thought to be produced within the Sun, although, this contradicted the previous observations. The number of axions required to explain the XENON1T signal would significantly change the current evolution models of stars which are much heavier than the Sun.
Vagnozzi and his team constructed a new physical model which used chameleon screening to illustrate how the result would be obtained from the XENON1T if the dark energy was produced in the tachocline. It is a particular region in the Sun where the magnetic fields are exceptionally strong.
It was really surprising that this excess could in principle have been caused by dark energy rather than dark matter. When things click together like that, it’s really special.
Dr. Vagnozzi
The experimental observations imply that if the present excess is proved to be due to dark energy, then experiments like the XENON1T might be used to detect dark energy.
“We first need to know that this wasn’t simply a fluke. If XENON1T actually saw something, you’d expect to see a similar excess again in future experiments (such as XENONnT, PandaX-4T, and LUX-ZEPLIN), but this time with a much stronger signal.”
Dr. Visinelli
References
Direct detection of dark energy: The XENON1T excess and future prospects.
Physical Review D, 2021; 104 (6) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.104.063023
“Dark energy, the mysterious force that causes the universe to accelerate, may have been responsible for unexpected results from the XENON1T experiment, deep below Italy’s Apennine Mountains.” The University of Cambridge.
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