The team, led by members of Tokyo Metropolitan University, has used new spectroscopic techniques and the Mazelancre telescope to observe galaxies and advance in searching for dark matter.
For just four hours of observations, accurate measurements in the infrared range set new limits on the lifetime of dark matter.
Their findings highlight the important utility of technology and extend searches to less-searched portions of the spectrum.
Contradictions in searching for dark matter
Over the past century, cosmologists have addressed obvious contradictions in what they see in space. For example, observations of galaxy rotation mean that there is far more mass than we can see.
Physicists call this “missing” mass “dark matter.” What makes searching for dark matter so incredibly difficult is the fact that we can’t see it, as well as not only do we have no clear ideas about what we are looking for.
Now, researchers are beginning to use a combination of models and cutting-edge observations to limit the properties dark matter may have.
In recent developments, a team of Japanese scientists led by Associate Professor Wen Ying of Tokyo Metropolitan University has used new spectroscopic techniques to observe light arriving from two galaxies.
They used Chilean Mazelancre telescopes to collect light arriving on Earth and pay close attention to the infrared region of the spectrum.
New techniques to improve difficult searches
The team focused on promising candidates in the search for dark matter, searched for axion-like particles (ALP) and examined how they “decay” and released naturally. The main theoretical model makes the near-infrared portion of the spectrum a particularly promising location.
However, infrared is also a crowded, confusing part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is because of the vast range of noise and interference from other sources.
Examples include star light, dim scattering of sunlight by interstellar dust, and light emitted by the atmosphere when the sun is heated. To avoid this, previous studies proposed a new technique that uses the fact that background radiation tends to include a wider range of wavelengths, but light from a particular damping process is strongly distorted over a narrow range.
As the various colors spread lightly and thinly, the narrowly confined decay event becomes sharper and sharper, just as the light ripples out from the prism becomes thinner.
Various out-of-state infrared spectrometers, such as the James Webbspace Telescope’s nirspec, can be used to implement this technology, such as serving as a Weiner at the Mazelancree Telescope, effectively converting these instruments into superior dark matter detectors.
The strict limits of dark matter lifetime
Thanks to the accuracy of the team’s technology (Winered), they were able to explain all the light detected with a fairly high statistical accuracy.
The fact that no attenuation was then used to set the upper limit to the frequency of these damping events or the lower limit to the lifetime of ALP particles. The new lower limit in seconds is 10, then 25-26 zero, or 100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-100-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-200-2
This is not only important, as it is still the most severe limit for the lifespan of dark matter. This work addresses the fundamental particle physics problems using cutting-edge technology in infrared cosmology.
Those conclusions are based on rigorous analysis of previous data, but there are hints of abnormal or “excess” that provide an appetizing prospect of actual detection of dark matter with more data and more analysis.
For now, searching for the missing parts of our universe continues.
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