Electrons, accelerating to 99.9999999% of the speed of light in a two-mm pipe of the accelerator of the national laboratory, end their way with a powerful blow to the end station A. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, such clashes helped to reveal elementary particles, from which Protons and neutrons are, which brought the Nobel Prize to the head of the experiment. “The final station A is a sacred place in SLAC,” says the physicist.
In the near future, a new experiment will be built at this place, which will confirm or refute one of the most popular hypotheses about dark matter.
Almost a century ago, the Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zvikki suggested the presence of invisible matter, the gravity of which holds the galaxy together. Since then, evidence of the existence of dark matter has continued to accumulate, and now scientists believe that 85% of the substance in the universe is hidden from our eyes. However, the secret of the nature of dark matter remains unsolved.
For decades, researchers have focused on two types of carrier particles: weakly interacting massive particles (Wimps) and axions. However, 40 years of unsuccessful searches of these particles led to the fact that physicists began to consider more complex models of dark matter. Perhaps it consists not of one type of particles, but of a whole family, as well as visible matter.
According to the new hypothesis, dark matter may include many light particles that can conditionally be divided into two categories: “Light Dark Matter” and “Ultra-Great Dark Matter”. Easy dark matter is a lighter Wimps options, and the ultra-thorough dark matter is even lighter axions.
In 2019, the US Department of Energy launched the program “study on dark matter” in the field of dark matter to finance fast experiments. Today, a number of such projects are preparing for construction. Similar experiments also develop in Europe and Asia.
One of these projects is an experiment on the search for light dark matter (ldmx). The experiment involves the acceleration of electrons to the target from the tungsten in the end station A. In most collisions of electrons with tungsten nuclei, nothing interesting will happen. However, in rare cases, if light dark matter