Dark matter hunt eyes deeper home

Scientists are looking to relocate an underground experiment searching for dark matter to an even deeper site. Cosmic rays striking the Earth could completely mask the rare dark matter events sought by the experiment.

Team members want to cut out as much of this cosmic ray interference as possible, even if it means moving the experiment 2km below ground. This could help them positively identify the particles thought to make up dark matter, according to BBC News.

Dr Marek Kos, who is a team member on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search II (CDMSII) project, outlined details at the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP) in Paris. He said the experiment could be relocated from a mine in Minnesota to a deeper facility in Ontario, Canada.

The matter we can see makes up just 17% of matter in the Universe; the remaining 83% is "dark", meaning it does not reflect or emit detectable light. The existence of dark matter has been inferred through the gravitational pull it exerts on luminous galaxies and stars.

Though scientists have no idea what it consists of, one popular theory is that dark matter is made up of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). Supporters of the idea believe a large number of WIMPS pass through the Earth every second. But, because they interact only very weakly with normal matter, detecting them is difficult.