No, scientists still have no idea what dark matter is. However, MSU scientists helped discover new physics while searching for it.
Wolfgang “Wolfi” Mittig and Yassid Ayyad began their search for dark matter—also referred to as the missing mass of the universe—in the heart of an atom around three years ago.
Even though their exploration did not uncover dark matter, the scientists nonetheless discovered something that had never been seen before that defied explanation. Well, at least an explanation on which everyone could agree.
“It’s been something like a detective story,” said Mittig, a Hannah Distinguished Professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and a faculty member at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB.
“We started out looking for dark matter and we didn’t find it,” he said. “Instead, we found other things that have been challenging for theory to explain.”
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