Radon Hides Dark Matter
A dark matter detector is like a room where you're trying to hear a whisper while static electricity crackles nearby. This crackle is produced by radon atoms — a radioactive gas that seeps out from materials and air.
Neural Network Cleans Up Noise to Catch Xenon Decay
In a dark mine under the Italian Alps, a tank holds three tons of liquid xenon. When a particle hits it, it knocks faint flashes of light and electron clouds out of the atoms. Following these tracks, physicists hope to see an ultra-rare decay: a xenon-136 nucleus turning into barium-136, emitting two electrons and no neutrinos.
How to Tell Dark Matter from Noise
Underground, in a former gold mine, sits a tank of liquid xenon. If a dark matter particle flies through it, the xenon flashes. But it also flashes from ordinary particles, like neutrinos or leftover radioactivity. The task is to tell which flash comes from dark matter and which from noise.