Scientists have already gathered enough evidence for the existence of dark matter and are now trying to understand what exactly lies behind this mysterious substance. According to Vitaly Vertogradov, leading researcher at the Institute of Physics of Herzen RSPU, there is approximately ten times more dark matter in the Universe than ordinary visible matter. However, its exact nature is still unknown. Several options are currently being considered.

According to one model, dark matter consists of new elementary particles that science does not yet know. According to another version, these could be compact objects, similar to primordial, i.e., microscopic, black holes.

There is an even more radical explanation: perhaps gravity itself does not work exactly as commonly believed over long distances. Then, to explain the observed phenomena, Einstein's theory of relativity would have to be modified.

Unraveling the nature of dark matter could change scientists' understanding of the Universe. Research into this substance should help to understand what it is made of and how galaxies and their clusters appeared.

If it turns out that dark matter indeed consists of unknown particles, it will be the discovery of new physics. However, this does not involve any fantastic phenomena: new theories will emerge that can describe the discovered particles.

If such particles cannot be found, scientists may have to revise existing ideas about gravity and Einstein's theory.

Meanwhile, researchers from the LUX-ZEPLIN project reported a possible signal that may be related to dark matter. The experiment is taking place at a depth of 1.5 km in an old gold mine in South Dakota, USA.

Inside the setup is a tank with 10 tons of liquid xenon. It is used to search for extremely rare collisions of dark matter particles with atoms of matter.

The instrument registered one event – a short "response" from an atom. However, scientists are not yet calling this proof of dark matter detection.

The result still needs to be confirmed. To do this, it is necessary to register recurring events and carefully check the data to rule out random coincidences, emphasized the Herzen RSPU.