China's Dark Matter 'Monkey King' Satellite Detects Evidence of Dark Matter Particles

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) satellite China launched 310 miles in space in 2015 to collect cosmic ray data just picked up something extraordinary. 

While hunting for traces of dark matter in the universe, the satellite nicknamed "Wukong" or "Monkey King," detected a huge spike of unknown matter. 

Fan Yizhong, deputy chief designer of DAMPE's scientific application system, added that the spike was highly unusual. “The signals might have originated from either dark matter or pulsars,” he said.

Chinese Academy of Sciences' scientists have been recording the DAMPE satellite's findings for two years now and have measured over 3,500,000,000 high energy particles. This is the first anomaly in their electron and positron data spectrum. They are very excited but careful to not overreact to their discovery, waiting for higher probability scores from further analysis to confirm their expectations.

Why is this Important?

Basically, out of the 100% of the matter in the universe, we can only actually see ~5% of it. Then ~27% is "dark matter" that we cannot see but know exists because we can measure its gravitational influence. The last ~68% is the mysterious "dark energy" supposedly expanding everything in the universe. 

A main dark matter theory is that whatever it is can decay into some matter we can see: electrons, positrons, photos, etc. So this is what China's "Monkey King" DAMPE satellite has been scanning for. 

Since scientists have painstakingly searched for hard proof of dark matter for decades with only failure after failure, you can see why this long-awaited little "blip" in the data is actually a huge deal.

The latest findings were published in Nature and show the spectral break at 0.9 TeV (tera-electron-volts) and a potential spike at 1.4 TeV. This discovery helps fine-tune the parameters for future models of cosmic phenomena like pulsars, supernovas, and dark matter. 

In other words, they found visible particles of an invisible needle in the universal haystack and using those to help find evidence of more invisible needles. 

 "Together with data from the cosmic microwave background experiments, high energy gamma-ray measurements, and other astronomical telescopes, the DAMPE data may help to ultimately clarify the connection between the positron anomaly and the annihilation or decay of particle dark matter," Fan Yizhong, said in a statement.

"DAMPE has opened a new window for observing the high-energy universe, unveiling new physical phenomena beyond our current understanding," Chang Jin, chief scientist of DAMPE, told Xinhua. "Our data may inspire some new ideas in particle physics and astrophysics. We never expected such signals.”

So this could propel scientists beyond the bounds of previous limitations. They could have the means to find and interact with the invisible matter of our universe. The potential implications and opportunities are indeed intriguing. 

Chang continued: “The spike might indicate that there exists a kind of unknown particle with a mass of about 1.4 TeV. All the 61 elementary particles predicted by the standard model of particle physics have been found. Dark matter particles are beyond the list. So if we find a new elementary particle, it will be a breakthrough in physics. Even if they were from pulsars, it would be quite a strange astrophysical phenomenon that nobody had known before.”

But for now, the team will just keep logging cosmic ray data to increase their accuracy.

“So far, we are 99.99 percent sure this spike is real, but we need to collect more data. If the statistical probability exceeds 99.99994 percent, it will be a groundbreaking discovery in particle physics and astrophysics,” Chang said.

Even if this new data doesn't solve the dark matter question, astrophysicist at Princeton University David Spergel says, "These measurements will inform our understanding of cosmic ray acceleration [and] will tell us about the physical processes in shocks around supernova and the physics of pulsars."

And then what? I can't wait for someone will invent a device that can see dark matter and reflect that onto a human's brain so we can "see" the rest of the universe. Well, until then keep exploring outside the box.

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Sources:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/china-detects-weird-space-signals-135544032.html

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/china-s-dark-matter-space-probe-detects-tantalizing-signal

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-11/30/c_136788775.htm

800-Year-Old Tombs of Lord Hu Hong Discovered in China

Here, the rear wall of the coffin chamber in Née Wu's tomb.

Ancient tombs discovered in a Chinese construction site.

After being buried for 800 years, the tombs of Lord Hu Hong and his wife Née Wu were found in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang province, China. There's an inscription that translates to "Grand Master for Thorough Counsel." 

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According to researchers, Hu Hong served the southern Song Dynasty during a time when China was split between two dynasties. There's a long inscription inside Hu Hong's tomb that tells the story of his life. In part, it reads "has been inscribed on this stone to be treasured here, in the hope it will last as long as heaven and earth!"

In 1195 the Chinese government held a massive crackdown on the Tao-hsueh practitioners, a religious group that called out senior officials in the government and even emperors for drinking alcohol, having concubines, and multiple wives. It turns out, Hu Hong was the "Investigating Censor prosecuting the treacherous and the heretical, with awe-inspiring justice." It seems he arrested, or worse, members of this group for publicly criticizing the government. Perhaps the many people he angered in his prosecution took revenge and robbed his tomb. 

Missing Artifacts & Erased Inscriptions

Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology's main researcher, Jianming Zheng, led a team of archaeologists to excavate these tombs. According to them, Lord Hu Hong's tomb was already robbed but his wife's tomb was left intact. Some may suspect foul play due to the political sensitivity and, interestingly, the inscriptions in Née Wu's tomb were not readable, supposedly.

Now, the bodies themselves were extremely decayed despite the large amount of mercury archaeologists found and believe was used in attempts to preserve their bodies. Besides this, the only remaining artifacts were gold jewelry, gold and silver alloy hairpins, elephant patterned porcelain jars, and an interesting crystal disc. 

The Story of Lord Hu Hong

According to researchers and his tomb inscription, Hu Hong was born in April 1147 to a poor family. His father taught Confucianism to the public and, during China's 10th century civil war, his ancestors were refugees moving to Longquan County, near Qingyuan County.

"Hu Hong loved learning, but his family was poor and had no money to buy books. When there were book peddlers passing by, he would borrow the books, read them overnight and return them the next day," the "Gazetteer of Chuzhou Prefecture," which was a text published in 1486, reads in translation.

He was a student of "outstanding talent" and passed government exams amidst peer competition, according to the inscription. Making his way through government ranking over the years, he became the "best county magistrate of the year" in 1193 while serving on the northern borders of the southern Song Dynasty territory. In 1200, "at the time, the Yao tribes were rebellious, and he stamped the rebels out," the inscription reads. 

He seems quite the accomplished official. Yet, towards the end of his career, Hu Hong experienced enough to become critical of the government himself. 

"He knew that he was beyond his prime and insisted on retiring. Had he kept being outspoken, he would have been pushed out. Although worried about current affairs and concerned with the moral decline of the time, and though he could not easily let go, he no longer had the energy to fight and serve," the inscription says.

Finally, Hu Hong died in 1203 with his wife following shortly afterward in 1206 and entombed side by side. After just over 800 years, in March 2014, the tombs were discovered and published in the Chinese journal Wenwu in 2015.

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Sources

https://www.livescience.com/60979-ancient-tombs-chinese-couple.html

https://www.archaeology.org/news/6111-171120-china-hu-hong

China's Former Internet Regulator Under Investigation for Corruption

BEIJING (AP) — China's former top internet regulator and censor is being investigated by the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption arm, the agency said Tuesday.

The party's anti-graft watchdog agency said in a brief statement on its website that Lu Wei is suspected of "serious violations of discipline." Until Tuesday's announcement, Lu had been deputy head of the party's propaganda department.

Lu was known as a hard-liner responsible for leading the government's efforts to tighten control over domestic cyberspace and championing the party's position that governments have a right to filter and censor their countries' internet.

He wielded enormous power over what 700 million Chinese internet users could view online and acted as the gatekeeper for technology companies wishing to do business in China.

No details were given in Tuesday's announcement, which comes after a party congress at which President Xi Jinping was given a second five-year term as party chief. Lu is the most senior Chinese official to be investigated since the party congress closed late last month.

Lu was suddenly replaced as cyberspace chief in June last year by his deputy, Xu Lin. Lu held on to his concurrent position of deputy head of propaganda but kept what observers thought was an uncharacteristically low profile.

Appointed in 2014 as China's top internet regulator, Lu held high-profile meetings with top executives from foreign technology and internet companies, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Lu took a hard line in demanding tough security checks on imported foreign tech products and keeping out foreign internet companies and social networks like Facebook in the name of preserving social stability.

Lu's departure from the position has not led to any changes or easing of such demands and restrictions on information.

In recent years China has pushed cybersecurity regulations aimed at limiting technology imported from the West, which Beijing officials say is necessary given Edward Snowden's allegations of U.S. spying via "backdoors" inserted in exported U.S.-made hardware.

Lu worked his way up the ranks of China's official Xinhua News Agency from a reporting job in the city of Guilin in southern Guangxi province in the early 1990s to becoming the agency's vice president from 2004 to 2011. He was vice mayor of Beijing from 2011 to 2013.