From the atmosphere to the underground

Read the travelogue of a xenon atom as it journeys from the air we breathe to a dark-matter detector a mile underground.

The blue cylinder in this diagram represents a superconducting microwave cavity used to accumulate a dark matter signal. The purple is the qubit used to measure the state of the cavity, either 0 or 1. The value refers to the number of photons counted. If the dark matter has successfully deposited a photon in the cavity, the output would measure 1. No deposition of a photon would measure 0. Image: Akash Dixit, University of Chicago

Sensitive qubit-based technique to accelerate search for dark matter

Fermilab feature

Quantum bits acting as particle detectors offer a fast and highly reliable means of solving one of the great mysteries in physics: the nature of dark matter. This new method promises a more efficient way to detect dark matter candidates by improving the experimental signal-to-noise ratio.

Have Fermilab Scientists Broken Modern Physics?

From Forbes, April 7, 2021: Don Lincoln, senior scientist at Fermilab, explains that a new measurement announced by Fermilab last week goes a long way towards telling us if the venerable theory will need revising.

Meet 5 women who have revolutionized science on the past 5 years

From IG Último Segundo (Brazil), March 7, 2021: Fermilab researcher Marcelle Soares-Santos was included in this International Women’s Day story for her studies on dark matter and dark energy.

Aaron S. Chou: then and now / 2011 Early Career Award winner

From DOE Office of Science, March 4, 2021: Q&A with Fermilab’s senior scientist, Aaron Chou, and his achievements as a result of receiving the Early Career Research Program.

Scientists take another look at tantalizing galaxies with no dark matter

From Forbes, Feb. 22, 2021: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains how modern cosmology imagines our universe is an astronomical confection with three primary ingredients: ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy.

Dark Energy Survey finds new evidence for emerging way to measure dark matter

From UChicago News, Feb. 12, 2021: Fermilab scientist Yuanyuan Zhang discusses the implications of the studies she led on intracluster light using Dark Energy Survey data, which may include a new way of measuring dark matter.

Dark matter found? Second experiment weighs in

From Forbes, Feb. 12, 2021: In June 2020, results from an experiment located in Italy suggested that dark matter may have been directly observed. Another experiment, conducted in China, has announced consistent data. Has dark matter been discovered? Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains why we’ll only know in retrospect using the next generation of detectors.

By measuring light from individual stars between galaxy clusters, astronomers find clues about dark matter

From Universe Today, Feb. 3, 2021: Recent published results from the Dark Energy Survey point to intracluster light — feeble light from rogue stars that don’t belong to a galaxy — as a potential pathway to measure dark matter. Fermilab scientist Yuanyuan Zhang contextualizes the findings.

Astronomers explore ‘cosmic balance’ to weigh clusters of galaxies

From Super Interessante, Jan. 31, 2021: A team of researchers from Fermilab and the National Observatory in Brazil used the light of solitary stars to calculate the mass of some of the largest structures in the cosmos — galaxy clusters. In addition to taking the most detailed measurement ever published of intracluster light, the team’s new method of measurement can help further investigate dark matter.