Chinese researchers have directly observed the long-theorized Migdal effect for the first time, a breakthrough that could revolutionize the search for dark matter. The team, led by Professor Zheng Yangheng from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), confirmed a quantum phenomenon predicted 87 years ago with a statistical confidence exceeding 5 sigma, providing a potential key to detecting the universe’s invisible glue.
For nearly nine decades, the Migdal effect existed only in physics textbooks. First proposed by Soviet physicist Arkady Migdal in 1939, the theory suggested that when a neutral particle—like a hypothetical dark matter particle—strikes an atomic nucleus, it should cause a detectable secondary electronic signal. Yet, without direct proof, this idea remained an untested cornerstone of certain dark matter detection strategies. That changed when the UCAS-led collaboration built a unique instrument to chase this ghostly signature.
“For more than 80 years, the Migdal effect in neutral particle collisions had never been directly confirmed by experiments,” stated Professor Zheng Yangheng, the paper’s corresponding author, in an interview with Science and Technology Daily. This lack of evidence, he noted, had led to “ongoing questioning” of the assumptions in experiments relying on the effect. Their successful observation, published in the prestigious journal Nature, now provides the crucial experimental bedrock those searches needed.
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So, how did they capture an effect that had eluded scientists since the 1930s? The team engineered a special gaseous pixel detector, filled with a mixture of helium and dimethyl ether, designed to act like a ultra-sensitive camera for particle tracks. They then bombarded this gas with neutrons from a generator, simulating the initial collision. The true innovation was their detector’s ability to see two things at once: the recoil of the nucleus and the electron kicked out by the Migdal effect. Catching this paired signal was the definitive proof.
After a grueling 150 hours of data collection, which yielded over 100 events, the researchers applied strict filters and identified six pristine candidate events. Achieving a 5 sigma statistical significance—the gold standard in particle physics for a discovery—meant the odds of this being a random fluke were vanishingly small. According to their Nature paper, this work “addresses a long-standing gap in scientific understanding” and offers a “potential approach for the detection of light dark matter.”
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This matters because the hunt for dark matter, which makes up about 27 percent of the universe, has reached a pivotal shift. Scientists have long searched for heavier dark matter particles with no conclusive success. The focus is now turning to lighter particles, which would produce incredibly faint, hard-to-detect signals. The Migdal effect provides a way to amplify that whisper of a signal. As the team explained, validating this effect is like finally confirming the blueprint for a new type of microphone, one sensitive enough to hear dark matter’s quietest interactions.
The implications are profound. This discovery not only validates a piece of fundamental physics history but also opens a promising new avenue in one of science’s greatest quests. By providing the first direct experimental benchmark, the Chinese team has handed cosmologists and particle physicists a refined tool. Their work, which also involved researchers from Central China Normal University, Guangxi University, and several other Chinese institutions, sets the stage for the next generation of dark matter experiments, potentially bringing us closer to illuminating the universe’s darkest secret.
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