Researchers of the University of Cambridge detect dark energy.
- ByStartupStory | September 25, 2021
Almost 68% of our universe is made up of dark energy and only about 5% of the universe can be seen with our naked eyes, the rest is all dark. Dark energy is the invisible force that accelerates the expansion of the universe. The study led by the researchers suggests that the unexplained results caused by the XENON1T experiment might have been due to dark energy and not dark matter.
XENON1T was operated deep underground at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali Del Gran Sasso in Italy from 2016 – 2018. Xenon1T is a sensitive device for detecting dark matter which forms a huge part of our universe. However, the experiment showed a series of unexpected results which researchers believe is possible because of the detection of dark energy. “Large-scale experiments like XENON1T have been designed to directly detect dark matter, by searching for signs of dark matter ‘hitting’ ordinary matter, but dark energy is even more elusive.”, says Dr. Sunny Vagnozzi from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology of Cambridge. Future experiments might confirm the suspicion of it being the dark energy that is responsible for the flukes in experiments. For the time being, scientists will keep looking into the gravitational interactions to detect dark energy.
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