The correct answer is: weakly interacting massive particle.
A stable weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) has been posited to be the hypothetical elementary particle that makes up dark matter. Detected via gravitational effects and based on the particle physics theory of supersymmetry, WIMPs are strong contenders for being the prime component of dark matter. WIMPs are weakly interacting, that is, they very rarely hit an ordinary atom and have only very tiny interactions with ordinary matter; and they are massive, having a large mass in comparison to standard particles (though still being subatomic) and moving slower than the speed of light. So far, they have eluded detection.
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1. Name the facility being built at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, that may be able to detect or produce dark matter in the laboratory.
2. Dark matter helps to explain certain aspects of the Big Bang, which occurred when the universe began and then expanded. When did the Big Bang happen?
3. Since dark matter does not absorb or emit light, it is invisible to current optical instruments. However, with a large enough radio telescope, astronomers could create a map of the universe detailing the structure and distribution of this invisible dark matter. At present, what is the largest single-aperture radio telescope on Earth?
4. Who is the astronomer whose studies and calculations of gravitational fields and "missing" masses in the 1930s eventually led to the postulation of dark matter?
5. Dark Matter is the title of a new film by opera director Chen Shi-Zheng based on the struggles of a Chinese cosmological student seeking to unravel the mysteries of dark matter. Name either the Chinese-born lead actor who plays the student or the American-born actress also starring in this film.
6. Black holes (the remnants after heavy stars burn out and collapse) have been proposed as a possible candidate for dark matter since the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that not even light can escape. Who is the theoretical physicist who coined the term "black hole": Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman, John A. Wheeler, or Albert Einstein?
7. Cosmology, the study of the structure and the origin of the universe, is derived from two Greek words: "cosmos", meaning order, and "logos", meaning reason or plan. The mythological Greek god Zeus was the ruler of the universe. Who were his parents?
8. Dark matter helps to explain the rotational motion of the Milky Way Galaxy (the large disk-shaped aggregation of stars, gas, and dust in which our solar system is located). Approximately how many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy: 2, 2000, 2 million, 200 billion, or 200 trillion?
9. Two classic rock groups that formed in the 1960s have recorded different songs with the same title of "Dark Star". Which are the two: Pink Floyd; Crosby, Stills, and Nash; Creedence Clearwater Revival; The Grateful Dead; or Led Zeppelin?
10. True or false: The rings around the planet Saturn are actually dark matter.
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