Scientists from the ACT and across the country will introduce members of the public to dark matter and the work Australia scientists are doing to uncover its mysteries in a Dark Matter Day event this weekend.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM) will hold a special online event on Saturday, 30 and Sunday, 31 October to mark Dark Matter Day, which is celebrated internationally on Halloween.
The event will feature live and interactive talks, a children’s art session, tours of laboratories, including the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, and Q&A sessions with researchers at the forefront of the search for dark matter between 2 and 4.30pm on Saturday, 30 October.
The event will be open throughout the weekend for visitors to browse talks and information at their leisure.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne, the University of Western Australia, Australian National University, the University of Adelaide, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Sydney will be part of the event.
Centre Director Elisabetta Barberio said the researchers were looking forward to sharing their knowledge of the groundbreaking work happening across Australia to explore the nature of dark matter.
“Dark matter is a ghostly substance that remains a mystery for all scientists. While we know the particle nature of about 15 per cent of the universe, that leaves so much to discover, and we believe that dark matter is central to solving that mystery.
“On Dark Matter Day, we invite people to learn about how Australia is playing a crucial role in the global exploration of dark matter, so that they can be part of this search. We are at the vanguard of an international, collaborative effort to understand dark matter and that is incredibly exciting for scientists and the wider community.”
Australian National University researcher and artist Raghda Abdel Khaleq will present an art session at the event, introducing children to the Centre’s art competition.
“I’m looking forward to encouraging students to be creative and curious,” she said. “Most people don’t realise that science is a really creative field, and scientists are constantly required to come up with new ideas and think outside the box. We hope to show students that art and science are not mutually exclusive fields.”
Visit https://www.centredarkmatter.org/events-1 to register for the event.
Background notes
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics was established in 2020 to bring together physicists from across Australia, in partnership with key international researchers and institutions, to pursue the discovery of Dark Matter.
Dark matter it is a mysterious substance that holds galaxies together and constitutes 80 per cent of the matter of the Universe. Its existence is inferred from its gravitational interaction and the exploration of the nature of dark matter is considered science’s next frontier.
The Centre is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and its researchers aim to make discoveries that could change our understanding of the universe. Some of its research will be carried out in a laboratory located 1km underground in the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory in Stawell Gold Mine.
The underground location of the mine aims to reduce interference from cosmic rays, the high-energy particles that constantly rain down on Earth. Construction of the laboratory has begun and researchers will begin gathering data in 2022.
Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.
