MOSCOW, 29 Aug. Scientists from the NRU BelSU as part of an international team have improved the algorithms for processing signals from the detector as part of the international DarkSide project. This project aims to search for elusive particles of dark matter using a special detector, which is currently being created. The results are published in The European Physical Journal.
Physicists call dark matter a form of matter that does not participate in electromagnetic interaction and therefore is inaccessible to direct observation. Dark matter, according to scientists, makes up about a quarter of the mass-energy of the Universe and manifests itself only in gravitational interaction. The researchers expect dark matter to be composed of some kind of particles, similar to elementary particles in ordinary matter.
To «see» dark matter, you need to create a special detector that, like a telescope, will catch these elusive particles. The DarkSide-20k experiment, aimed at creating such a device, involves scientists from Russia, Italy, France, Poland, China and the United States, which together form the DarkSide collaboration. From Russia, scientists from NRU BelSU, as well as researchers from Moscow State University, JINR, the Kurchatov Institute and other organizations take an active part in the work of DarkSide.
Recently, the DarkSide collaboration presented an improved signal processing algorithm for the future DarkSide-20k detector, based on a hybrid model using Bayesian networks and Markov chains. Its application gives the same end result as the previous models, but with a smaller data set and processing time. This will allow more efficient processing of experimental data from the detector.
«»The main result of the second phase of the DarkSide-50 experiment, which took place in 2014-2018, is that the detector did not detect any traces of the interaction of dark matter with ordinary matter in the range 1 –10 GeV,” said Alexander Kubankin, professor of the Department of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, BelSU.
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Now the next DarkSide-20k detector is being built, the sensitivity of which will be 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than that of its predecessor. According to scientists, this will help to detect the desired signal.
One of the practical applications of such fundamental research is the development of algorithms for processing big data, in particular, neural network algorithms that can be applied more widely in other industries. Another possible area of application is the production of ultrapure materials and the development of appropriate technologies for their processing.
Today, scientists from SINP MSU and NRU BelSU, together with the largest titanium producer VSMPO-Avisma, within the framework of the Federal Target Program (project No. 075-15-2021-1392 ) are working on the technology for obtaining ultra-pure titanium and testing it in mass production for future low-background experiments like DarkSide, including in the Russian Federation.
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«There are about a dozen different dark matter detectors in the world. This is one of the hottest areas of fundamental science, where there is a race for results and high competition. The advantage of DarkSide is the use of ultrapure argon as the main material of the detector and in more careful selection of materials for it,” said Andrey Oleinik, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Radiation Physics of the National Research University BelSU.
In his opinion, DarkSide-20k will be among the three most sensitive detectors in the world. Now the Belgorod group at DarkSide is faced with the task of developing a special compact neutron source that could generate a very weak particle flux, at a level just above the background, which is necessary for testing the device. In addition, BelSU scientists will be able to participate in data collection in the detector and its operational management in two or three years.