• Stoatmilk [he/him]
    ·
    5 months ago

    Particle and Astrophysical Xenon Experiments (PandaX)

    please stop letting physicists name things

  • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    5 months ago

    That's cool, China's PandaX-II was more sensitive than the European or American efforts at similar volumes, and their goal to rival DARWIN is also good as a cross check. The Europeans and Americans are doing DARWIN together instead of competing like they have with the XENON series and LZ.

  • puff [comrade/them]
    ·
    5 months ago

    I love China but this is a waste of money. Dark matter isn't a particle, it's probably not even MOND or quantum gravity. It's just GR 1 2, and the astrophysics community hasn't accepted it yet because it's not new and exciting. 'Evidence' for dark matter always assumes Newton gravity as the null hypothesis.

    • WithoutFurtherBelay
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Maybe not the most efficient use of money but empirically testing things is better than masturbating about it mathematically for the rest of time. Otherwise it’s about as credible as quantum immortality or God. And I don’t think these papers answer even close to the majority of things dark matter is “needed” for

    • Owl [he/him]
      ·
      5 months ago

      Bullet cluster.

      I don't know why people are so resistant to the concept of dark matter. "There are particles that interact via gravity and no other forces" is not that outlandish of a hypothesis, and it fits a whole bunch of observed phenomena.

      • puff [comrade/them]
        ·
        5 months ago

        There have been papers explaining bullet cluster effects without invoking new particles.