Were looking for a massive photon, Milner explains. That may seem like a contradiction in terms: Photons, or particles of light, are known to be massless. Thats why they travel at the speed of light—something that, according to Einsteins theory of relativity, is impossible for anything that possesses mass. However, an exotic particle that resembles a photon, but with mass, has been proposed by some theorists to explain dark matter—whose nature is unknown but whose existence can be inferred from the gravitational attraction it exerts on ordinary matter, such as in the way galaxies rotate and clump together. Now, an experiment known as DarkLight, developed by Fisher and Milner in collaboration with researchers at the Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory in Virginia and others, will look for a massive photon with a specific energy postulated in one particular theory about dark matter, Milner says. Read more at: phys.org/news/2013-10-dark-mysteries.html#jCp
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 17:44:07 +0000
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