Breakthrough in the dark matter experiment: Münster technology in use!

Breakthrough in the dark matter experiment: Münster technology in use!

The challenges of modern physics are diverse, but the search for dark matter is one of the greatest. Dark matter makes up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe, but has so far remained without direct evidence. However, finding the hypothetical particles that could be responsible for dark matter requires cutting-edge technologies. The University of Münster has a remarkable development to show in this context: a distillation system that is used in the dark matter experiment “XENONnT” in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy. Like the University of Münster reported, the goal of this technique is to detect extremely rare particle interactions that could provide information about the nature of dark matter.

The focus of this innovative technology is the reduction of radon radioactivity. Radon is a radioactive gas that creates unwanted interference signals in detectors, making it difficult to measure the signals you are looking for. To counteract this, a team led by Prof. Dr. Christian Weinheimer from the University of Münster developed a cryogenic distillation system that reduces the radon concentration in the detector to a spectacular 430 radon atoms per ton of liquid xenon. This value is a billion times lower than the natural radioactivity of the human body, which significantly improves the quality of measurements. Loud MS current The interference signals caused by radon are now so rare that they are comparable to the interference caused by neutrinos from the sun.

Technological breakthroughs and international cooperation

The structure of the XENONnT detector has been optimized to ensure excellent purity of the liquid xenon used. The detector works at around minus 95 degrees Celsius and contains 8.5 tons of xenon. The use of ultra-pure materials significantly reduces interference signals, making this project a pioneer in dark matter research. At the same time, the developed technology opens up new perspectives for larger, more sensitive detectors, such as the planned liquid xenon observatory XLZD, which will work with ten times as much xenon. These technological milestones were supported by international collaborations in which German research institutions also play a role. The research receives support from the European Research Council (ERC) and the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space.

In addition to hardware development, software solutions to control unwanted background noise are also being investigated in the experiments. Researchers are working on algorithms that can identify radon events and thus maintain data integrity. While the XENON1T experiment has achieved initial success in this direction, as in one Articles about Radon Wallpapers mentioned, the subsequent XENONnT experiment will be even more efficient in reducing radon gas due to its improvements to the detector design.

In summary, the progress in reducing radon interference in the XENONnT experiment not only increases measurement accuracy, but also lays the foundation for future breakthroughs in dark matter research. With the new technical solutions, scientists at the University of Münster are taking a significant step closer to a better understanding of the universe.