The Brobdingnagian majority of matter in the universe might be inconspicuous . This dark affair is found everywhere and helps   keep galaxies and clusters of galaxies in shape due to its gravitative influence . Its existence is crucial in many theories , and yet we still do n’t hump what saturnine affair is .

Many experiments are currently await for dark matter , but   they are yet to observe what it   is made of . One experimentation , originally called DAMA and now DAMA / LIBRA , has been systematically discover a signal for over two decades   – but it ’s capture some offspring . The properties of the possible dark matter seen in this experimentation have already been excluded by dissimilar detector , and similar detectors are yet to find the sign .

What DAMA has been observing since 1997 may be   seasonal changes in the magnetic flux of dark matter . The researchers visualise disconsolate matter a bit like a headwind . As the Sun goes around the Milky Way , it moves through dark matter and , depending on the counsel our planet is going around the Sun , the researchers require to see more or less dark thing hitting the sensing element – and this is what has been control . More non-white issue sign appear in June than in December .

Two new detectors , ANAIS and COSINE-100 , designed to work in the same way as DAMA / LIBRA have gone online in the last couple of years . alas , their preliminary result do n’t see the same signals as DAMA . The results of COSINE-100 ’s first three month were published inNaturelast December , and the answer from the first 18 month of observation from ANAIS are currently available onarXiv .

" For the first time in 20 years , we have a chance to correct the DAMA riddle , " co - author Yale physics professor Reina Maruyama , who is conscientious objector - representative for COSINE-100 , said in astatement .

While the solution create a tension between the experimentation , it is still too former to know if they are a true contradiction or a fluke of the routine . The DAMA results are confirmed by large routine statistics , but these new studies will unquestionably supply to the debate around DAMA and its finding . Both experimentation expect statistically significant results to be potential in a few yr .

The experimentation use sodium iodide crystal . When dark matter or regular backcloth particles interact with them , they give off light that   is detect by photomultipliers . To get rid of as much scope as possible , all three experimentation are turn up deep below undercoat . DAMA is inside the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy , COSINE-100 is in the Yangyang Underground Laboratory in South Korea , and ANAIS is located at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Spain .

[ H / T : Nature ]