Dark matter is a mysterious form of matter that does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, making it invisible to ordinary telescopes. We know it exists because its gravity affects how stars move in galaxies, how galaxies move in clusters, and how the Universe grows and evolves.
One leading idea is that dark matter is made of new, undiscovered particles called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). Dark Matter particles can be much heavier than the particles of ordinary matter, with masses up to a few thousand times the mass of a proton (~ GeV) or extremely light. Because they interact only very weakly, they can pass through almost all matter without leaving a trace.
Our experiment is designed to look for the rare occasions when a WIMP collides with an atomic nucleus in our detector. Such a collision would produce a tiny amount of energy. By measuring these minute energy deposits with extremely sensitive instruments such as Kinetic Inductance Detectors, we aim to discover WIMPs and reveal the true nature of dark matter.
