Scientists Say Atomic Clocks Near Sun May Help Find Dark Matter, New Physics

Dark matter has been the subject of several Earth-based studies, but it has evaded detection. Now, scientists have proposed a novel experiment that would send atomic clocks to the region of the Sun where dark matter is predicted to be most concentrated to search for signals.

Only around 15% of the universe's mass is represented by the things people see daily in our environment, New Atlas said. The mysterious, invisible material that makes up the remaining 85% is known as dark matter since it neither emits nor reflects light. However, it does communicate with us through gravitational interactions with light and weight, and the evidence for its existence keeps growing.

(Photo: (NASA/SDO))
How will our Sun look after it dies? Scientists have made predictions about what the final days of our Solar System will look like and when it will happen. And we humans won't be around to see the Sun's curtain call.

Dark matter is a basic element of the cosmos because it is approximately five times more prevalent in the universe than the familiar matter that makes up stars, planets, and even human bodies. We only know that dark matter exists because of indirect studies of its gravitational impact over brilliant objects like galaxy clusters. However, despite its abundance, dark matter has proven to be entirely inscrutable to our sensors and has never been directly observed.

Scientists Want to Bring Atomic Clocks Near Sun to Find More Dark Matter in Space

The first direct discovery of dark matter, a milestone that might provide answers to a myriad of unresolved mysteries about our universe, has eluded scientists despite the development of numerous advanced techniques.

Currently, a group led by Yu-Dai Tsai, a physicist at the University of California, Irvine, has suggested an intriguing space mission that would employ the most precise clocks ever created to look for dark matter that might be connected to the Sun. According to a paper published in Nature Astronomy, the concept mission, which the team names SpaceQ, may possibly discover "new physics" and "study many fundamental physics topics" in this way.

"Dark matter is one of the most important remaining mysteries in astronomy and cosmology, given its unknown and elusive nature," Tsai said in an email to Vice's Motherboard. "If we could find dark matter and understand its properties, we can understand the evolution of our universe and understand many astrophysical measurements better, including the velocity distribution of these objects on a small scale (from small galaxies to galaxy clusters)."

The SpaceQ mission concept is based on the astounding precision of what the team refers to as "quantum clocks," a class of instruments that includes both already-existing atomic clocks, which are extremely accurate devices that use oscillations within atoms to tell time, as well as future molecular and nuclear clocks that are expected to be even more sensitive. These clocks can measure exceedingly minute variations in atomic frequencies in addition to keeping time.

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Some Atomic Clocks in Space

The density of big matter is high, according to the experts (via Interesting Engineering), in a specific area of the solar system located between Mercury's orbit and that of the Sun. This can result in an especially high sensitivity to fluctuating impulses.

These signals might be detected by atomic clocks, which track the frequency of photons released during transitions between different atomic states. Additionally, the frequencies will change if ultralight dark matter is included in the clock experiment, somewhat boosting the dark matter's oscillations while lowering photon energy.

According to the report, the task would be carried out by "quantum sensors," which are still being developed by atomic, nuclear, and molecular clocks.