New Study Throws Dark Matter Finding Into Question

New Study Throws Dark Matter Finding Into Question | Dark Matter
Detection | Dark Matter Annihilation & Positrons | Space.com
http://www.space.com/13775-dark-matt...cial %2Bmedia

"The positrons found by PAMELA were thought to be the products of dark
matter annihilation with antimatter, and scientists were hopeful that
the tantalizing discovery could prove the existence of the elusive dark
matter.

But a new study has raised more questions about PAMELA's discovery.
Researchers at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and
Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford University in California confirmed the
overabundance of positrons, but when they did not see a sudden drop-off
of this excess beyond a certain energy level, they knew something was wrong.

"If the antimatter we measure is coming from the annihilation of dark
matter particles, then the positron excess should drop off fairly
suddenly at an energy level that corresponds with the mass of the dark
matter particle," study co-author Stefan Funk, an assistant professor of
physics at Stanford University, said in a statement."

On 11/30/11 11:57 AM, Yousuf Khan wrote:
New Study Throws Dark Matter Finding Into Question | Dark Matter
Detection | Dark Matter Annihilation & Positrons | Space.com
http://www.space.com/13775-dark-matt...cial %2Bmedia


"The positrons found by PAMELA were thought to be the products of dark
matter annihilation with antimatter, and scientists were hopeful that
the tantalizing discovery could prove the existence of the elusive dark
matter.

But a new study has raised more questions about PAMELA's discovery.
Researchers at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and
Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford University in California confirmed the
overabundance of positrons, but when they did not see a sudden drop-off
of this excess beyond a certain energy level, they knew something was
wrong.

"If the antimatter we measure is coming from the annihilation of dark
matter particles, then the positron excess should drop off fairly
suddenly at an energy level that corresponds with the mass of the dark
matter particle," study co-author Stefan Funk, an assistant professor of
physics at Stanford University, said in a statement."

I wouldn't get too exited as there is increasing evidence for dark
matter from many independent observations.