SEARCH FOR A NEW PARTICLE IN THE NUCLEUS

The researchers of Atomki investigate the characteristics of atomic nuclei and their reactions.

However, the nucleus itself is a small laboratory with continuous physical processes inside. All the interactions of Nature are present in the nuclear reactions. Two of the four presently known interactions, the strong and the weak ones, were discovered in the nucleus. If the dark matter is present in Nature with the abundance usually assumed by theorists, it affects the nuclear reactions, too.

Based on this assumption, a research group of the institute started to search for the dark matter inside the nucleus, and they managed to find an interesting anomaly which drives us beyond the limits of nuclear physics.