Dark Matter Detector installed underground and submerged will begin data collection in 2013. An experiment to look for one of nature’s most elusive subatomic particles is finally under water, in a stainless steel tank nearly a mile underground, and a UC Santa Barbara physicist is among the scientists participating in the project. The Large Underground Xenon experiment, nicknamed LUX, will be the most sensitive device yet to look for dark matter. Thought to comprise more than 80 percent of the mass of the universe, dark matter has so far eluded direct detection. UCSB’s Harry Nelson — who helped design, build, and fill the sophisticated water tank that now holds the experiment — says LUX could help solve a vexing mystery. “The nature of the dark matter is one of the top three open questions in particle physics,” Nelson said. READ MORE (UCSB Featured News)

UC Davis physicist Jeremy Mock inspects the LUX detector, the cylinder in the center, inside its protective water tank, which now has been filled with ultra-pure water.