Researchers at the University of Nottingham have developed a new method using a 3D printed vacuum system to detect dark matter and potentially reveal the nature of dark energy. This system manipulates gas density and uses ultra-cold lithium atoms to explore the effects of scalar fields, aiming to observe domain walls – defects formed during phase transitions in scalar fields. Photon Laser System in the Laboratory at the University of Nottingham. Credit: University of Nottingham
Scientists have created a 3D-printed vacuum system to detect dark matter and explore dark energy, using ultracold lithium atoms to identify domain walls and potentially explain the accelerating expansion of the universe.
Scientists have developed a new 3D printed vacuum system designed to ‘trap’ dark matter, aiming to reveal domain walls. This advance represents an important step forward in deciphering the mysteries of the universe.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham’s School of Physics have created a 3D-printed vacuum system, which they will use in a new experiment to reduce the density of gas, then add ultra-cold lithium atoms to the effort. to reveal the dark walls. The research is published in the scientific journal Physical examination D.
Professor Clare Burrage from the School of Physics is one of the lead authors of the study and explains: “The ordinary matter from which the world is made is only a small part of the contents of the universe, about 5%, the rest is either dark. matter or dark energy – we can see their effects on the way the universe behaves, but we don’t know what they are. One way people try to measure dark matter is to introduce a particle called a scalar field.
“Dark matter is the missing mass in galaxies, dark energy can explain the accelerating expansion of the universe. The scalar fields we are looking for can be either dark matter or dark energy. By introducing ultracold atoms and examining the effects it produces, we may be able to explain why the expansion of the universe is accelerating and whether this has any effect on Earth.
The researchers based the construction of the 3D vessels on the theory that light scalar fields, with double well potentials and direct matter couplings, undergo density-driven phase transitions, leading to the formation of domain walls.
Methodology and Theory
Professor Burrage continues: “As the density decreases defects form – this is similar to when water freezes into ice, the water molecules are random and when they freeze you get a crystal structure with randomly arranged molecules, with some lined up in one direction and another and this creates fault lines. Something similar happens in scalar fields. You can’t see these fault lines with the eye, but if the particles pass through them, the trajectory can change. Theirs.
To detect these defects or dark walls, the team has created a specially designed vacuum that they will use in a new experiment that will mimic the movement from a dense medium to a less dense one. Using the new setup they will cool lithium atoms with laser photons to -273 which is close to absolute zeroat this temperature they take on quantum properties which makes the analysis more accurate and predictable.
Lucia Hackermueller, Associate Professor in the School of Physics led the design of the laboratory experiment, she explains, “The 3D printed sides that we are using as a vacuum chamber were built using theoretical calculations of Dark Walls, this created what we believed. be the ideal shape, structure, and structure to capture dark matter.To successfully demonstrate that dark walls are trapped, we will allow a cold atom the cloud passes through those walls. The cloud is then deflected. To cool those atoms, we fire laser photons at the atoms, which reduces the energy in the atom—that’s like slowing down an elephant using snowballs!”
It took the system three years to build the team and they expect results within a year.
Dr. Hackermueller adds: “Whether we prove that dark walls exist or not, it will be an important step forward in our understanding of dark energy and dark matter, and an excellent example of how a controlled laboratory experiment can be designed well to directly measure the effects. that are important to the Universe and otherwise unobservable.”
Reference: “Discovering dark domain walls through their influence on particle trajectories in tailored ultrahigh vacuum environments” by Kate Clements, Benjamin Elder, Lucia Hackermueller, Mark Fromhold and Clare Burrage, 14 June 2024, Physical examination D.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.109.123023