Search for Fast Moving Dark Matter Candidates and Interstellar Meteoroids

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H01910
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 15020:Experimental studies related to particle-, nuclear-, cosmic ray and astro-physics
• Research Institution: Konan University
• Principal Investigator: Kajino Fumiyoshi 甲南大学, 自然科学研究科, 特別研究員 (50204392)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 多米田 裕一郎 大阪電気通信大学, 工学部, 准教授 (90467019)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 暗黒物質 / Nuclearite / 星間流星体 / 流星体 / macro dark matter

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research is to find clues to reveal "what our universe is made of" by searching for macro dark matters flying at high speed through the atmosphere and meteoroids originating from outside the solar system.
For this purpose, we built five instruments with highly sensitive CMOS cameras and installed them in Japan and Utah, U.S.A., and observed them remotely continuously for more than one year. As a result, we were able to observe a very large number of meteor showers and sporadic meteors.
These data were analyzed to determine the brightness and velocity of the trajectories, and preliminary results were obtained on the existence of macro dark matters and meteoroids originating from outside the solar system. We also showed that the instrument of this concept is very effective for these searches.

Free Research Field

宇宙線物理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、マクロ暗黒物質粒子と太陽系外起源流星体 (星間粒子)の未開拓の質量領域を新しい探索方法で実施し、予備的結果を得た。暗黒物質は宇宙論、粒子物理学および宇宙物理学的要請から、その存在の可能性は高く、宇宙の構造と進化の理解のため学術的意義は極めて大きい。一方、太陽系外起源流星体 (星間粒子)は我々のすぐ近くの星間領域と遠方の惑星系の両方について天体の形成と進化の理解のための貴重な情報を得ることができ学術的意義が大きい。これらの研究は、地球外生命の存在など、人類の宇宙への関心を高め、科学への興味を高めることができ、その過程で得られる知識や技術は様々な分野に応用できるので社会的意義は大きい。