The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) instrument on the ISS has reportedly observed a phenomenon believed to occur when dark matter particles collide with each other, according to NewScientist.com citing Nobel laureate Samuel Ting from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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The AMS particle detector on the ISS – Photo: NASA
AMS was transported to the ISS on the final flight of the Endeavour spacecraft in May 2011, with the mission of hunting for dark matter.
Despite constituting about 80% of the matter in the universe, dark matter hardly interacts with ordinary matter, which is why its presence has yet to be convincingly proven.
During a scientific event in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Ting revealed that AMS had observed over 30 billion cosmic rays, specifically charged particles of mysterious origin streaming through space.
AMS identified 6.8 million of these particles as electrons or positrons.
According to the hypothesis of scientists, if dark matter particles encounter each other in space and annihilate, they would decay into equal numbers of electrons and positrons, thereby increasing the overall positron count in the universe compared to electrons.
Dr. Ting’s team determined that the ratio of positrons to electrons had indeed increased, indicating the presence of dark matter.