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Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

washington.edu

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Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#11

Post by ianai »

ajross wrote: post #10
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If nothing goes wrong, within a few years we'll be able to confirm or reject the axion theory of dark matter. Well, we'll be able to reject the current axion theory of dark matter. I suspect we won't be able to reject all possible ones. (But I don't know for sure.)

That's sorta speciously true of any experiment. The space of hypotheses is infinte, you can only target one. Ruling out one attractive and well-supported theory would be news on its own. A confirmation of a particle discovery would be bigger still, of course.

You both may be correct. Fundamentally though the philosophy of science prefers a hypothesis that is falsifiable to one too vague to falsify.

Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#13

Post by Taniwha »

there was a Scientific American article on this a few o months back (sadly paywalled).

Essentially they can ringfence the potential masses/energies of axions based on other things, if they exist, this device contains a resonant cavity that should be able to detect them breaking down across most of the theoretical energy range

Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#14

Post by gus_massa »

komali2 wrote: post #3

Can someone help me understand, is the "breakthrough" this? : >t is the world’s first and only experiment to have achieved the necessary sensitivity to “hear” the telltale signs of dark matter axions. This technological breakthrough is the result of more than 30 years of research and development, with the latest piece of the puzzle coming in the form of a quantum-enabled device that allows ADMX to listen for axions m…

It looks like a nice experiment with interesting new technology, but calling this a "breakthrough" is just an exaggeration (until they find the particles they are looking for).

Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#16

Post by davidcuddeback »

noetic_techy wrote: post #12

I hope they detect nothing. I'm rooting for modified gravity theories.

Modified gravity theories don't fit all the evidence, such as the distribution of mass in the Bullet Cluster [1] or the large-scale structure of the CMB [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_Cluster

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter#Cosmic_microwave_b...

Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#17

Post by pierrebai »

ajross wrote: post #7
komali2 wrote: post #3

Can someone help me understand, is the "breakthrough" this? : >t is the world’s first and only experiment to have achieved the necessary sensitivity to “hear” the telltale signs of dark matter axions. This technological breakthrough is the result of more than 30 years of research and development, with the latest piece of the puzzle coming in the form of a quantum-enabled device that allows ADMX to listen for axions m…

The headline calls it a "breakthrough technology", not "breakthrough science". Basically this is a new experiment about to begin operating. If nothing goes wrong, within a few years we'll be able to confirm or reject the axion theory of dark matter. Which is pretty big news, all told. A confirmed axion detection would be at least as important to physics as the Higgs result from CERN or the discovery of the W/Z in the…

You have to admit that the headline achieves maximum separation between "breakthrough" and "technology". I got bamboozeled too.

Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#18

Post by Nomentatus »

ajross wrote: post #10
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If nothing goes wrong, within a few years we'll be able to confirm or reject the axion theory of dark matter. Well, we'll be able to reject the current axion theory of dark matter. I suspect we won't be able to reject all possible ones. (But I don't know for sure.)

That's sorta speciously true of any experiment. The space of hypotheses is infinte, you can only target one. Ruling out one attractive and well-supported theory would be news on its own. A confirmation of a particle discovery would be bigger still, of course.

The axion may not be an example of the following, but there are highly specific predictions of new particles (etc) that drop out of current theory and knowledge. Antiparticles, from Dirac is one example. If they hadn't been found there would have been no motivation to look for something much like an antiparticle, since those variants wouldn't have fit into Dirac's theory.

So not speciously true of all predictions or most (before String Theory came along!)

Re: Breakthrough Announced in Dark Matter Detection Technology

#20

Post by truantbuick »

davidcuddeback wrote: post #16
noetic_techy wrote: post #12

I hope they detect nothing. I'm rooting for modified gravity theories.

Modified gravity theories don't fit all the evidence, such as the distribution of mass in the Bullet Cluster [1] or the large-scale structure of the CMB [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_Cluster [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter#Cosmic_microwave_b...

Some would disagree:

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2018/04/no-that-galaxy-with...

As a non-scientist, it seems like dark matter has been relentlessly adjusted and overfitted and still appears very inadequate to fit all the evidence.

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