Primer dimer is a common problem in PCR (polymerase chain reaction) that can lead to false positives and other errors. It occurs when the primers, which are short pieces of DNA used to initiate DNA synthesis, anneal to each other instead of to the target DNA. This can result in the amplification of a non-specific product that is not related to the target sequence.
There are a number of ways to check for primer dimer. One common method is to use agarose gel electrophoresis. In this method, the PCR products are separated by size using an agarose gel. Primer dimers will typically appear as a small band on the gel, below the band corresponding to the target product.