A mile beneath the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, a single unknown particle separated from light, air and cosmic rays collided with the nucleus of a xenon atom, causing electrons to be knocked free in a flash of light — and confounding scientists.
The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment recorded an unusual interaction during an analysis of 220 effective days of data collected between March 2023 and April 2024. The signal resisted months of verifications and was not satisfactorily explained by the known funds, but is far from proving the detection of dark matter. Statistically, it is still possible that...