A dark-matter signal might not look like a particle striking a detector. Some models predict a passing field that would briefly alter the behavior of precision instruments.
The network is the instrument
Atomic clocks, magnetometers, and optical sensors are individually sensitive to local noise. When separated instruments share accurate timing, researchers can search for a disturbance that appears in a physically consistent order.
Rejecting coincidences
A candidate must survive comparisons with temperature, magnetic activity, timing errors, maintenance records, and known environmental events.
The analysis also defines the expected duration and propagation pattern before looking at the final data. That reduces the freedom to reinterpret an arbitrary fluctuation after it appears.
Constraints before discovery
So far, network searches are most useful for ruling out combinations of signal strength and event frequency. A convincing detection would require replication across instruments and independent analysis groups.
