Although it sounds almost like science fiction, among all the things that surround the universe there is a concept called dark energy that makes it expand faster. Although it represents 70% of all the energy and matter in the universe, scientists still don’t know exactly what it is.
To put it in context, dark energy was discovered in 1998 and has been a great mystery to scientists ever since. But be careful, because among the theories to give some kind of explanation to all this, one of the most striking suggests the existence of a particle called a chameleon.
The theory of this particle suggests that there could be a fifth force in the universein addition to the four known fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces.
If scientists could find this fifth force, or chameleon particle, it would completely change our understanding of the universe. Dark energy affects the cosmos, and uncovering its nature could lead to new scientific insights. Now, a group of physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, has created a system to search for it.
In search of the chameleon particle, first but big steps
This is an atomic interferometer combined with an optical network. Basically, this allows gravity to be measured very precisely by keeping atoms in a state of free fall for a long time.
This uses the quantum properties of particles, which can behave like particles and waves at the same time. By splitting a particle wave so that it takes two different paths and then coming back together, you can measure very precisely whether there is something affecting gravity, such as the chameleon particle.
Given all this, the surprise is that the Berkeley team has made a breakthrough. Whereas previously experiments could only keep atoms in free fall for milliseconds, Their new device can do this for up to 70 seconds, thus increasing the chances of finding evidence of the chameleon particle..
So far, everything is in its infancy and there is still work to be done, but they are slowly getting closer to an answer. The team remains optimistic and believes that future experiments could provide the necessary evidence to confirm or deny the existence of this particle.
Known how we work in Computerhoy.
Tags:
Add Comment