One day in June 2023, the numerous, unblinking electronic eyes of the LUX-ZEPLIN detector may have glimpsed something remarkable \u2014 possibly the first direct detection of the shadowy dark matter that pervades the cosmos. Or it may have been just another Friday.<\/p>\n
A new analysis of data from LUX-ZEPLIN, or LZ, found a single particle interaction that is consistent with dark matter, researchers report September 1 at the TeV Particle Astrophysics meeting in Tendo, Japan, and in a paper posted on LZ\u2019s website. But one event is not conclusive. Without more data, scientists can\u2019t be sure what it is.<\/p>\n
The lone unexpected event has physicists buzzing. \u201cIt\u2019s the most interesting thing that\u2019s come up in recent times,\u201d says theoretical physicist Wick Haxton of the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research. \u201cSo I definitely think that there\u2019ll be a flood of people looking at this event.\u201d<\/p>\n