To detect dark matter, you’ve got to go big.
At 20 metres high and 25 metres wide, the XENON1T chamber is the largest dark matter detector in the world. Run by Italy’s National Institute for nuclear Physics (INFN) and located below a mountain in the Gran Sasso Laboratory in central Italy, it has a simple aim: to look for dark matter by measuring the tiny amount of energy given off when the particles of dark matter collide with ordinary atoms inside the detector.
When photographer Enrico Sacchetti went to capture images of the detector in February, it was just about to be filled with water to give the dark matter particles something to bounce off of, and hermetically sealed for the next five years while the INFN conducts its ambitious experiment.
Understanding dark matter, which amounts to about 26.8 per cent of the total mass–energy of the Universe, will allow us to understand the size, shape and future of everything. "If we are able to understand the mysteries of dark matter, we will be able to more accurately explain the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters in our universe" says Sacchetti.
The XENON1T detector experiment, opened in November 2015, is a collaboration between 125 scientists, representing 24 different nationalities, and 21 institutions and universities across the world.
For the scientists, the race has only just started. Several other dark matter experiments throughout the world are also making progress in the search. “The first team to detect dark matter will certainly be up for a Nobel prize,” says Sacchetti.
Away from science, the detector is also gaining artistic recognition. In September, Sacchetti’s photo of the XENON1T won first prize at the Royal Photographic Society’s 2017 competition. “It isn’t exactly clear what you’re looking at,” says Sacchetti. “It’s mysterious. I like that”.
Updated 29.09.17: The chamber is filled with water to allow the dark matter particles to bounce off something, not to protect it from natural, external radiation.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
