As per two physicists, the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be a way to directly find out and measure dark matter, which is so far an elusive, but omnipresent form responsible for the formation of galaxies.
Andrei Derevianko, of the University of Nevada, Reno, and his colleague Maxim Pospelov, of the University of Victoria and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada have come up with a method to find out dark matter.
The method involves the usage of GPS satellites and atomic clock networks. Derevianko said that there are different assumptions with regard to dark matter.
Some studies suggest that dark matter is made up of heavy particle like matter. There are chances that this assumption may not be true. In fact, modern physics and cosmology is only able to explain 5% of mass and energy in the universe and that too in the form of matter and rest is a mystery.
Now, their research supports the idea that dark matter can be formed as a big gas-like collection of topological defects or energy cracks, said Derevianko. In the research, both of the physicists want to find out the defects in the dark matter.
"The idea is, where the clocks go out of synchronization, we would know that dark matter, the topological defect, has passed by. In fact, we envision using the GPS constellation as the largest human-built dark-matter detector", affirmed Derevianko.
The scientific community has welcomed the study when it was presented at important scientific conferences this year. The research will also be part of the scientific journal Nature Physics.
Derevianko is joining hands with Geoff Blewitt, Director of the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory and they will test GPS data. The Geodetic Lab has developed and maintains the largest GPS data processing center in the world.
The researchers will assess clock data from the 30 GPS satellites so that they can test the dark matter detection ideas.
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