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How might Dark Matter interact with Ordinary Matter?

Photo shows PandaX, a xenon-based detector in China. Credit: PandaX.

Photo shows PandaX, a xenon-based detector in China.
Credit: PandaX.

An international team of scientists that includes University of California, Riverside, physicist Hai-Bo Yu has imposed conditions on how dark matter may interact with ordinary matter – constraints that can help identify the elusive dark matter particle and detect it on Earth.

Dark matter – nonluminous material in space – is understood to constitute 85% of the matter in the universe. Unlike normal matter, it does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, making it difficult to detect. Physicists are certain dark matter exists, having inferred this existence from the gravitational effect dark matter has on visible matter. What they are less certain of is how dark matter interacts with ordinary matter – or even if it does.

In the s...

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