Time: It bends and warps, or seems to speed up or slow down, depending on your position or perception. So measuring its passing accurately is one of the most fundamental tasks in physics – which could help land us on Mars or even observe dark matter.

Now, physicists at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Delaware have developed the most accurate and precise atomic clock yet, using a ‘web’ of light to trap and excite a diffuse cloud of cold strontium atoms.

“This clock is so precise that it can detect tiny effects predicted by theories such as general relativity, even at the microscopic scale,” says Jun Ye, a physicist at the NIST’s Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) lab at the University of Colorado. “It’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with timekeeping.”

Scientists have devised a 3D-printed vacuum system to detect dark matter and explore dark energy, using ultra-cold lithium atoms to identify domain walls and potentially explain the universe’s accelerating expansion.

Scientists have developed a novel 3D-printed vacuum system designed to ‘trap’ dark matter, aiming to detect domain walls. This advancement represents a significant step forward in deciphering the mysteries of the universe.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham’s School of Physics have created a 3D-printed vacuum system that they will use in a new experiment to reduce the density of gas, then and add in ultra-cold lithium atoms to try to detect dark walls. The research has been published in the scientific journal Physical Review D.

A pair of astrophysicists with Princeton University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory found possible evidence of dark matter particles colliding. In their study, published in Physical Review Letters, Carlos Blanco and Rebecca Leane conducted measurements of Jupiter’s equatorial region at night to minimize auroral influences.

Since it was first proposed back in the 1930s, dark matter has been at the forefront of physics research, though it has yet to be directly detected. Still, most in the field believe it makes up roughly 70% to 80% of all matter in the universe. It is believed to exist because it is the only explanation for odd gravitational effects observed in galaxy motion and the movement of stars.

Researchers posit that it might be possible to detect dark matter indirectly by identifying the heat or light emitted when particles of dark matter collide and destroy each other. In this new study, the researchers found what they believe may be such an instance—light in Jupiter’s dark-side outer atmosphere.

Berkeley researchers have developed an ultra-precise instrument that captures atoms in free fall to search for dark energy, the force accelerating the universe’s expansion.

Experiment captures atoms in free fall to look for gravitational anomalies caused by universe’s missing energy

By Robert Sanders