Dark Matter Research In Italy Is Significantly Affected By The Coronavirus Lockdown

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dark matter

One of the humanity’s most promising research regarding the insights of the dark matter was affected by the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, NY Times reported. Elena Aprile was the one that initiated the Xenon experiment that was supposed to take place in Italy, analyzing the Gran Saso mountain in Italy.

When the lockdown imposed by the government occurred in Italy, Aprile’s team of researchers was trying to make the last preparations for the expensive device that would have helped researchers to get a proper insight into the forming of dark matter. What followed after the government tremendously reduced the social interaction is their response to researching while a pandemic is threatening the whole world.

The coronavirus lockdown in Italy keeps the dark matter research on hold

It is generally believed that the universe is composed of dark matter. This common conclusion was induced by astronomers who claimed these statements without any proper research for over half of a century. The intangible thing is probably formed of wimps, which are cosmic clouds that interact with massive particles that resulted during the Big Bang explosion. Being helped by electromagnetism, the particles are moving around us, and we are not able to see anything.

The crisis was reached when researchers have started to demonstrate this speculations adequately. Therefore, they have begun by building more and more detectors with bigger capacity, but unfortunately, they could not gain any image of wimps. Dr. Aprile’s research is still running even though the current pandemic is not allowing her work to be conducted at full capacity. The lab experiments are still going on as scheduled because the initiators of the study are skeptical in a successful scenario if they decide to stop the project.

However, the most impressive part of the dark matter study in Italy was the task of filling the vat with liquid xenon, Now, the experiment is on hold, waiting for the coronavirus lockdown measures to disappear. Without the xenon liquid, there are no testings to be done and all that the team can do is wait.

Doris’s passion for writing started to take shape in college where she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Even though she ended up working in IT for more than 7 years, she’s now back to what he always enjoyed doing. With a true passion for technology, Doris mostly covers tech-related topics.