Stawell gold mine’s high-tech lab aims to unlock a mystery of the universe
As excavation works are completed, a purpose-built Stawell Underground Laboratory will be fitted with supersensitive equipment to try to capture evidence of dark matter.
Victoria
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More than 1km underground in a 150-year-old Stawell gold mine, scientists are preparing to search for elusive dark matter, the remnants of the Big Bang or possibly before.
As excavation works are completed, a purpose-built Stawell Underground Laboratory will be fitted in early 2021 with supersensitive crystalline detection equipment to attempt to capture evidence of dark matter, a phenomenon which makes up 26 per cent of the mass and energy of the universe but has never been positively detected, its effects only observed through gravity-based effects in space.
University of Melbourne’s Michael Baker, from the School of Physics, has postulated a new theory on dark matter, arguing it may have been produced during evolutionary phases of the universe, like bubbles of gas forming in boiling water.
On Saturday, as part of international Dark Matter Day, Dr Baker is helping host virtual events which allow readers and students to take a “tour” of the Stawell lab and interact with other experiments at the University of Western Australia in the hunt for dark matter.
Those interested in taking the tour can visit the Dark Matter website.
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