“Hearst and Yahoo magazines can earn a commission or revenue from some items through these links.”
Here’s what you will learn when you read this story:
-
Scientists are close to the creation of a nuclear clock-Ultra accurate clock that uses a low-energy transition to the nucleus of the thorium-229 atom to keep the time.
-
Electric interference makes atomic watches unsuitable for detecting dark substances, but nuclear watches do not have this problem and could provide a resolution of about 100,000 times better than what we have right now.
-
There is no guarantee that the use of a nuclear watch will finally find the theoretical disturbances caused by dark matter, but this will help scientists explore a new atomic sphere as part of this continuous demand.
Once considered to be an unusable by-product of the American nuclear program, the thorium-229 isotope of silver-white metal, the thorium can become central to the search for the dark matter of humanity.
Until now, scientists have Massive detectors createdIt examines gravitational effects and studies cosmic radiation in the hope that it can point to evidence of this elusive substance. Researchers are now considering whether a nuclear clock driven by the low energy transitions of the thorium-229 nucleus can work as a new method in particle hunting.
In New study Posted in the magazine Physical Review XScientists from Germany, Israel and Spain have explored the ways in which the unique properties of the nuclear clock can detect the influence of dark matter. Today’s most accurate watches (nuclear watches) rely on electrons vibrations between two quantum conditions to maintain time. Although very precise, these watches are susceptible to electrical interference. The proposed nuclear watches that use the nuclei of the atom are far less influenced by these disturbances.
The resonance frequency-the constant swing of nuclei between the “earth” and “high-energy” states-usually is quite high, requiring strong radiation to excite the nucleus and to obtain a “tick” of a nuclear clock. However, Thorium-229 is special because its frequency of resonance is low enough to be excited by modern laser technology, theoretically makes a possible nuclear clock.
“As for Dark Matter, a thori-22-based nuclear clock will be the best detector,” said the press in the press Gilad Perez, co-author of the Waisman Science Institute. “Electrical interference is currently limiting our ability to use nuclear watches in search […]S We appreciate [nuclear clocks] It will allow us to find forces 10 trillion times more glorious than gravity, providing a resolution of 100,000 times better than what we currently have in the search for dark matter. “
Last year, laboratories around the world have made major breakthroughs in the development of a nuclear clock Thorium-229, which ended with a document published in September 2024 in the magazine NatureS This document reports to monitor the transition of thorium-229, which has been millions of times more accurate than previous attempts.
“In the universe, made up only of visible matter, the physical conditions and the spectrum of absorption of each material will remain permanent,” Perez says in a statement in the press. “But as dark matter surrounds us, its wavy nature can barely change the mass of nuclear nuclei and cause temporary changes in their spectrum of absorption […]S We still need even more accuracy to develop a nuclear clock, but we have already identified the opportunity to study dark matter. “
There is no guarantee that nuclear watches will put an end to our hunt for dark matter, but they are a new atomic limit that has not yet been explored as part of this endless demand.
It is not so bad for isotope, once regarded as a “by -product”.
You may like and