WHAT IS

DARK MATTER?

Galaxies are spinning too fast. At least, if you consider the amount of matter in them – there isn't enough gravity to hold them together. They should contain about five times more matter to produce that gravitational force. This is why scientists believe there is "dark" matter floating out in these galaxies, helping to hold the stars together.

DARK MATTER IS

ITS OWN ANTIMATTER

Dark matter particles are their own antiparticles. If they bump into one another, they'll revert the energy, a process called annihilation. This energy can then become any kind of particle-antiparticle pair. Because antiparticles are rare, they can be measured to infer the presence of dark matter.

LOW-ENERGY

PHOTONS

ANTIPROTONS

GAMMA RAYS

DARK MATTER

PARTICLES

PROTONS

ELECTRONS

POSITRONS

PARTICLES OF

FAMILIAR MATTER

NEUTRINOS

MEASURING ANTIMATTER

Ting and his colleagues are looking for antimatter, – in order to get hints about dark matter – through a particle physics detector on the International Space Station.

The central component of the detector, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is a large magnet. When particles pass through this detector, positively charged particles curve one way and negatively charged particles curve the other way. The scientists combine this information with a measure of the mass to determine a particle ID. Some are regular matter, such as electrons. Others are the corresponding antimatter, such as positrons.

A certain amount of antimatter is expected from cosmic ray collisions (particles that are catapulted out of exploding stars), but if dark matter particles are running into one another, we should see more.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER

Magnet directs the path of cosmic particles through the detectors

Path of matter particles

Path of antimatter particles

SO HAS THE DETECTOR FOUND DARK MATTER?

It does boast a suspicious trend in the positron spectrum – or how the frequency of positron detections changes at higher and higher momentum measurements. The curve resembles what you'd see if there were dark matter particles with masses of about 1 teraelectronvolt – roughly 1000 times more massive than a proton. But it doesn't qualify as a smoking gun – this pattern could also come from proposed physics related to exotic post-supernova stellar remnants known as pulsars. Still, by the end of the experiment in 2024, Ting is optimistic that we could have an answer.

WHAT IS

DARK MATTER?

Galaxies are spinning too fast. At least, if you consider the amount of matter in them – there isn't enough gravity to hold them together. They should contain about five times more matter to produce that gravitational force. This is why scientists believe there is "dark" matter floating out in these galaxies, helping to hold the stars together.

DARK MATTER IS

ITS OWN ANTIMATTER

Dark matter particles are their own antiparticles. If they bump into one another, they'll revert the energy, a process called annihilation. This energy can then become any kind of particle-antiparticle pair. Because antiparticles are rare, they can be measured to infer the presence of dark matter.

PROTONS

ANTIPROTONS

ELECTRONS

POSITRONS

NEUTRINOS

LOW-ENERGY

PHOTONS

GAMMA RAYS

PARTICLES OF

FAMILIAR MATTER

DARK MATTER

PARTICLES

MEASURING ANTIMATTER

Ting and his colleagues are looking for antimatter, – in order to get hints about dark matter – through a particle physics detector on the International Space Station.

The central component of the detector, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is a large magnet. When particles pass through this detector, positively charged particles curve one way and negatively charged particles curve the other way. The scientists combine this information with a measure of the mass to determine a particle ID. Some are regular matter, such as electrons. Others are the corresponding antimatter, such as positrons.

A certain amount of antimatter is expected from cosmic ray collisions (particles that are catapulted out of exploding stars), but if dark matter particles are running into one another, we should see more.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER

Magnet directs the path of cosmic particles through the detectors

Path of matter particles

Path of antimatter particles

SO HAS THE DETECTOR FOUND DARK MATTER?

It does boast a suspicious trend in the positron spectrum – or how the frequency of positron detections changes at higher and higher momentum measurements. The curve resembles what you'd see if there were dark matter particles with masses of about 1 teraelectronvolt – roughly 1000 times more massive than a proton. But it doesn't qualify as a smoking gun – this pattern could also come from proposed physics related to exotic post-supernova stellar remnants known as pulsars. Still, by the end of the experiment in 2024, Ting is optimistic that we could have an answer.

WHAT IS

DARK MATTER?

Galaxies are spinning too fast. At least, if you consider the amount of matter in them – there isn't enough gravity to hold them together. They should contain about five times more matter to produce that gravitational force. This is why scientists believe there is "dark" matter floating out in these galaxies, helping to hold the stars together.

DARK MATTER IS

ITS OWN ANTIMATTER

Dark matter particles are their own antiparticles. If they bump into one another, they'll revert the energy, a process called annihilation. This energy can then become any kind of particle-antiparticle pair. Because antiparticles are rare, they can be measured to infer the presence of dark matter.

LOW-ENERGY

PHOTONS

ANTIPROTONS

GAMMA RAYS

DARK MATTER

PARTICLES

PROTONS

ELECTRONS

POSITRONS

PARTICLES OF

FAMILIAR MATTER

NEUTRINOS

MEASURING ANTIMATTER

Ting and his colleagues are looking for antimatter, – in order to get hints about dark matter – through a particle physics detector on the International Space Station.

The central component of the detector, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is a large magnet. When particles pass through this detector, positively charged particles curve one way and negatively charged particles curve the other way. The scientists combine this information with a measure of the mass to determine a particle ID. Some are regular matter, such as electrons. Others are the corresponding antimatter, such as positrons.

A certain amount of antimatter is expected from cosmic ray collisions (particles that are catapulted out of exploding stars), but if dark matter particles are running into one another, we should see more.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER

Magnet directs the path of cosmic particles through the detectors

Path of matter particles

Path of antimatter particles

SO HAS THE DETECTOR FOUND DARK MATTER?

It does boast a suspicious trend in the positron spectrum – or how the frequency of positron detections changes at higher and higher momentum measurements. The curve resembles what you'd see if there were dark matter particles with masses of about 1 teraelectronvolt – roughly 1000 times more massive than a proton. But it doesn't qualify as a smoking gun – this pattern could also come from proposed physics related to exotic post-supernova stellar remnants known as pulsars. Still, by the end of the experiment in 2024, Ting is optimistic that we could have an answer.

WHAT IS

DARK MATTER?

Galaxies are spinning too fast. At least, if you consider the amount of matter in them – there isn't enough gravity to hold them together. They should contain about five times more matter to produce that gravitational force. This is why scientists believe there is "dark" matter floating out in these galaxies, helping to hold the stars together.

DARK MATTER IS

ITS OWN ANTIMATTER

Dark matter particles are their own antiparticles. If they bump into one another, they'll revert the energy, a process called annihilation. This energy can then become any kind of particle-antiparticle pair. Because antiparticles are rare, they can be measured to infer the presence of dark matter.

LOW-ENERGY

PHOTONS

ANTIPROTONS

GAMMA RAYS

DARK MATTER

PARTICLES

PROTONS

ELECTRONS

POSITRONS

PARTICLES OF

FAMILIAR MATTER

NEUTRINOS

MEASURING ANTIMATTER

Ting and his colleagues are looking for antimatter, – in order to get hints about dark matter – through a particle physics detector on the International Space Station.

The central component of the detector, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is a large magnet. When particles pass through this detector, positively charged particles curve one way and negatively charged particles curve the other way. The scientists combine this information with a measure of the mass to determine a particle ID. Some are regular matter, such as electrons. Others are the corresponding antimatter, such as positrons.

A certain amount of antimatter is expected from cosmic ray collisions (particles that are catapulted out of exploding stars), but if dark matter particles are running into one another, we should see more.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER

Magnet directs the path of cosmic particles through the detectors

Path of matter particles

Path of antimatter particles

SO HAS THE DETECTOR FOUND DARK MATTER?

It does boast a suspicious trend in the positron spectrum – or how the frequency of positron detections changes at higher and higher momentum measurements. The curve resembles what you'd see if there were dark matter particles with masses of about 1 teraelectronvolt – roughly 1000 times more massive than a proton. But it doesn't qualify as a smoking gun – this pattern could also come from proposed physics related to exotic post-supernova stellar remnants known as pulsars. Still, by the end of the experiment in 2024, Ting is optimistic that we could have an answer.