If a recent hint of dark matter is real, it would rewrite physics. Scientists are already trying to read the outline of that new story’s plot. And that’s reignited interest in certain theories, including a long-beloved but increasingly sidelined concept called supersymmetry.
Dark matter is imperceptibly everywhere, an unidentified type of particle pervading the universe but evident based only on its gravitational effects on galaxies and other cosmic entities. On September 1, scientists with the LUX-ZEPLIN, or LZ, collaboration announced they’d seen a signal in their detector that could have been caused by a single particle of dark matter — though it could still be just a blip caused by known physics processes.
In the weeks since the detection, dozens of papers have been posted on arXiv.org purporting to explain what LZ saw. Much interest has focused on a theorized type of particle called a higgsino. If the idea is correct, it would be big. “If we discover it, it would be the first discovery of supersymmetry,” says theoretical physicist Harikrishnan Ramani of the University of Delaware in Newark.
Supersymmetry proposes that for each known particle, there exists a heavier counterpart called a superpartner. It’s an idea that could solve multiple physics puzzles at once, so it has attracted a devoted following of physicists.
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