A team of scientists from the University of Granada (Spain) and the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Germany) have found among the equations formulated by Albert Einstein back in 1915, a hypothetical particle that would serve as a bridge between the visible universe and the elusive matter dark. This is the first investigation to consistently use theory to explain dark matter, a long-standing and complex problem in particle physics.
Our knowledge of the physical universe is based on the idea that dark matter occupies the vast majority of matter in the universe (something that helps us explain how gravity works, for example).
“There are still some questions that have no answer within the standard model of physics”, explain the scientists in their study collected by the journal The European Physical Journal C. “One of the most significant examples is the so-called hierarchy problem, the It asks why the Higgs boson is so much lighter than the characteristic scale of gravity. The standard model of physics cannot accommodate some other observed phenomena. One of the most striking examples is the existence of dark matter. “
A portal that mediates between the cosmic realms of light and darkness
Although it sounds like science fiction to us, the existence of this speculative particle could “provide a natural explanation” for the abundance of dark matter , an unidentified substance that represents most of the mass of the universe, and solve intractable problems about known subatomic particles. like fermions.
The team is part of a long scientific tradition that questions whether the four dimensions that humans can understand – space (altitude, longitude, and latitude) and time – are really all the universe has to offer.
While investigating equations in relation to the masses of fermions, the team outlined the existence of a new scalar field associated with a particle that would traverse that fifth dimension, through which fermions would enter and exit. The particle would be similar to the Higgs field and the famous particle known as the Higgs boson.
“Said particle could play a fundamental role in the generation of masses of all the particles sensitive to this extra dimension, and at the same time be the only relevant window to a possible dark sector responsible for the existence of dark matter , which would solve in a I only hit two of the biggest problems of these theories, a priori disconnected, ”clarifies Adrián Carmona, from the University of Granada, in a statement.
This offers exciting new ways to search for the components of dark matter, literally via a detour through the extra dimension, and to gain clues about physics very early in the history of our universe, when the mysterious dark matter.
“After years of looking for possible confirmations of our theoretical predictions, we are now confident that the mechanism we have discovered would make dark matter accessible for future experiments, because the properties of the new interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter , which is mediated by our proposed particle – it can be precisely calculated within our theory, “says Matthias Neubert, leader of the research.
How would we observe this type of dark matter to verify it? In essence, a proper gravitational wave detector, something that is growing in prevalence around the world. In fact, the answer to the dark matter riddle may already be just around the corner.
Referencia: A warped scalar portal to fermionic dark matter. Adrian Carmona, Javier Castellano Ruiz & Matthias Neubert. The European Physical Journal C, Volume 81, Article number: 58 (2021). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-08851-0
