Detection of magnetized quark-nuggets, a candidate for dark matter
  Quark nuggets are theoretical objects composed of approximately equal numbers
of up, down, and strange quarks and are also called strangelets and
nuclearites. They have been proposed as a candidate for dark matter, which
constitutes about 85% of the universe's mass and which has been a mystery for
decades. Previous efforts to detect quark nuggets assumed that the
nuclear-density core interacts directly with the surrounding matter so the
stopping power is minimal. Tatsumi found that quark nuggets could well exist as
a ferromagnetic liquid with an approximately 10 trillion Tesla magnetic field.
We find that the magnetic field produces a magnetopause with surrounding
plasma, as the earth's magnetic field produces a magnetopause with the solar
wind, and substantially increases their energy deposition rate in matter. We
use the magnetopause model to compute the energy deposition as a function of
quark-nugget mass and to analyze testing the quark-nugget hypothesis for dark
matter by observations in the air, water, and land. We conclude the water
option is most promising.
