Artist Nancyjane Huehl says that with this piece, titled "A new millennium of knowledge—In search of dark matter," she attempts to communicate what's unseen but still known.
This "Termesphere," by artist Dick Termes, is a revolving three-dimensional sculpture. Termes says that with this work, titled "Push not pull," he sought to express that dark matter is so far detectable only through its interaction with gravity.
If LUX detects dark matter, Termes says he will need to create a new Termesphere.
Native South Dakotan D. George Prisbe-Przybysz says he should be embarrassed for making the viewer do the work in "Choose your metaphor"—but he's not. Prisbe-Przybysz lives and works in the old mining community of Hanna.
In this piece, titled "Dark matter—The quest continues," artist Bob Wilson uses dark matter as a metaphor for the many unknown, unquantified things in our universe. "From the first alchemists to present-day physicists using the most modern supercomputers, the quest to understand these properties has always preoccupied the most creative, most intelligent, most curious, and most talented of our species," he says.
In piece, titled "Into the abyss," Grant Standard presents his version of the copper vessel and surrounding stainless tank that make up the LUX experiment. The "feelers" reaching into the center of the sculpture represent the search for dark matter inside the chamber—or the abyss.
This photo shows a hole about five inches in diameter that was drilled on the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Geologists drill holes like this one to extract core samples of rock. Photo by Matt Kapust.
This area, called the Little X, marks the entrance to the Davis Campus on the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Photo by Matt Kapust.
This long exposure captures someone walking through a laboratory space on the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Photo by Steve Babbitt.
The Large Underground Xenon dark matter detector is seen here after it was installed at the center of a water tank that will be filled with more than 70,000 gallons of ultra-pure deionized water. The water will shield the detector from background radiation. Photo by Matt Kapust.
These copper shavings are some of the world’s purest copper, which is being manufactured in a clean room 4850 feet underground. The copper, almost totally free of impurities, is being used to make parts for the Majorana Demonstrator experiment. Photo by Matt Kapust.