Detection of Dark Matter - the LZ Experiment

The LZ Dark Matter Experiment – Mining for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).


Recorded in May 2021.

Henrique Araújo, Professor of Experimental Astroparticle Physics, Imperial College London

We have known for decades that most of the mass of the universe comes in the form of an elusive substance we call Dark Matter. Professor Araújo described what is known about this mysterious substance, and how physicists are searching for its composition using a variety of experimental techniques.

He focused on the flagship LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, which is switched on deep underground. LZ is searching for rare interactions between these dark particles and ordinary matter.

Dark Matter appears to make up more than four-fifths of the universe’s mass, but scientists have not yet observed this elusive substance which neither emits nor absorbs light at any wavelength. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, are the leading candidates for dark matter. They are thought to be extremely numerous – with up to a billion crossing our own bodies every second – but their interactions with ordinary matter are at best very rare.