Particle physics Content

LZ Experiment Sets New Record in Search for Dark Matter

Andy Fell — August 26, 2024 - 3:43pm

Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world’s most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have narrowed down possibilities for one of the leading dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

Physicists Measure the Very, Very, Very Small

Andy Fell — June 04, 2024 - 10:38am

��ϲ��Ͽ� Davis physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, recently completed a measurement that sets an upper limit on the size of one of the smallest particles known, the tau lepton.

Students Build, Install Dark Matter Detector at CERN

Andy Fell — May 01, 2024 - 11:54am

A dark matter detector designed and built by ��ϲ��Ͽ� Davis undergraduate and graduate students is now undergoing trials at CERN. The device, a demonstration prototype for an experiment called FORMOSA, is currently installed in the forward region of the ATLAS detector, part of the Large Hadron Collider.

LUX-ZEPLIN Dark Matter Detector Starts Up

Andy Fell — July 18, 2022 - 10:29am

Deep below the Black Hills of South Dakota in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), an innovative and uniquely sensitive dark matter detector—the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab — has passed a check-out phase of startup operations and delivered first results.

Heavier Than Expected Particle Raises Questions About Standard Model

Andy Fell — April 08, 2022 - 4:37pm

An international team of physicists, including several from the high energy experiment group at the ��ϲ��Ͽ� Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy, has come up with the best measure yet of the mass of the W-boson – putting it in conflict with existing elements of the Standard Model of particle physics.

Explore Secrets of the Universe in Spectacular IMAX Movie

Andy Fell — July 05, 2019 - 9:46am

Venture from the tiniest subatomic particles to the grand scale of the galaxies and step inside the biggest machine ever built in Secrets of the Universe, a new IMAX movie. Secrets of the Universe will have its global premiere at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., on July 10.