A research group from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) has made an important step in the study of dark matter by observing the Migdal effect using high-tech equipment, as reported by the Chinese publication "Keji Zhibao".
According to the publication, dark matter is a mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of all matter in the universe. Although it does not emit light or heat, dark matter significantly affects the movement of galaxies due to its strong gravity. For many years, scientists have focused on hypothetical massive particles that interact with ordinary matter.
In recent years, researchers' attention has increasingly shifted to light dark matter particles. However, as the newspaper notes, the interaction of such particles with ordinary matter is extremely minimal, and the signals they may generate are below the sensitivity level of modern detectors, making traditional detection methods ineffective.
The Migdal effect, predicted by Soviet scientist Arkadiy Migdal in 1939, offers hope for solving this problem. This effect describes a quantum phenomenon in which a particle, when colliding with an atomic nucleus, transfers part of its energy to an electron outside the nucleus, which can lead to its ejection.
According to the publication, scientists used an innovative gas pixel detector developed by them to directly observe the Migdal effect. As a result, they were able to capture this effect with a statistical significance level exceeding five standard deviations, which meets the criteria for a "discovery" in physics.
“This not only confirms a prediction made in quantum mechanics 87 years ago but also provides important experimental data for the search for lighter dark matter particles in our universe,” the scientists are quoted as saying.
According to Professor Zheng Yanghen of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and one of the authors of the article published in the journal Nature, future experiments to detect dark matter will be able to utilize this effect, which will enhance the accuracy of signals and expand the detection range of dark matter.
