Search for 'Sterile Neutrino' Particle, Candidate for Dark Matter Still Elusive

The search for dark matter continues to be elusive. In fact, the search for a potential candidate linked to dark matter is showing the same aggravating results. Scientists still come up empty handed in proving the existence of the Sterile Neutrino particle.

With the help of a submerged instrument called the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, scientists can detect particles that come from star explosions. It was built mainly to detect mysterious particles called neutrino.

Under the best circumstances, neutrinos are quite elusive. It has little to no interactions with matter and physical forces. Thus, it can pass through cosmos without being affected by black holes or giant stars. The sterile neutrino is the perfect messenger that relays astronomical information to the edges of the universe. Also, the sterile neutrino is a material that makes up 80% of the universes mass. Despite years of analysis, the search for sterile neutrino comes up as empty.

In a study published on the journal of Physical Review Letter, it is with 99% certainty that the hypothetical quantum particle, sterile neutrino, does not exist. The study ends the 20-year long debate that has occurred between scientists.

"We don't see this-unfortunately, actually. I wish we had," stated Francis Halzen, principal investigator of the IceCube team.

This is not the first time researchers have come empty handed in the search for dark matter and the particles that make up for it. Despite the zero results, scientists continue to pursue new hints in data.

"What [the new result] is going to mean is that our belief in the sterile neutrino decreases, but it also is telling us where a sterile neutrino may not be, and where it may still survive," stated Carlos Argüelles Delgado, a member of the IceCube team and a postdoctoral researcher at MIT.

The search for the dark matter's candidate, sterile neutrino continues.