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Levitated magnet opens new frontier in search for ultraheavy dark matter

Rice University researchers have used a magnetically levitated particle to search for ultraheavy dark matter, extending the hunt for some of the heaviest possible forms of the invisible matter thought to hold galaxies together. Led by Christopher Tunnell, associate professor of physics and astronomy, the researchers used a tiny floating magnet as a highly sensitive detector designed to register the faint push an ultraheavy dark matter particle could produce as it passed through.