Physicists Present a New Theory on the Origin of Dark Matter

Physicists Present an Alternative to the WIMP Paradigm

Calculations for the new dark matter model developed at Mainz University. Credit: Michael Baker, JGU

Physicists have now come up with a new theory on how dark matter may have been formed, proposing an alternative to the WIMP paradigm.

Only a small part of the universe consists of visible matter. By far the largest part is invisible and consists of dark matter and dark energy. Very little is known about dark energy, but there are many theories and experiments on the existence of dark matter designed to find these as yet unknown particles. Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now come up with a new theory on how dark matter may have been formed shortly after the origin of the universe. This new model proposes an alternative to the WIMP paradigm that is the subject of various experiments in current research.

Dark matter is present throughout the universe, forming galaxies and the largest known structures in the cosmos. It makes up around 23 percent of our universe, whereas the particles visible to us that make up the stars, planets, and even life on Earth represent only about four percent of it. The current assumption is that dark matter is a cosmological relic that has essentially remained stable since its creation. “We have called this assumption into question, showing that at the beginning of the universe dark matter may have been unstable,” explained Dr. Michael Baker from the Theoretical High Energy Physics (THEP) group at the JGU Institute of Physics. This instability also indicates the existence of a new mechanism that explains the observed quantity of dark matter in the cosmos.

Physicists New Theory on the Origin of Dark Matter

In the new dark matter model, the Higgs particle has different properties to those in the standard model of particle physics. The figure shows the energy of the Higgs particle as a function of the model parameters. Credit: Michael Baker, JGU

The stability of dark matter is usually explained by a symmetry principle. However, in their paper, Dr. Michael Baker and Professor Joachim Kopp demonstrate that the universe may have gone through a phase during which this symmetry was broken. This would mean that it is possible for the hypothetical dark matter particle to decay. During the electroweak phase transition, the symmetry that stabilizes dark matter would have been reestablished, enabling it to continue to exist in the universe to the present day.

With their new theory, Baker and Kopp have introduced a new principle into the debate about the nature of dark matter that offers an alternative to the widely accepted WIMP theory. Up to now, WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles, have been regarded as the most likely components of dark matter, and experiments involving heavily shielded underground detectors have been carried out to look for them. “The absence of any convincing signals caused us to start looking for alternatives to the WIMP paradigm,” said Kopp.

The two physicists claim that the new mechanism they propose may be connected with the apparent imbalance between matter and antimatter in the cosmos and could leave an imprint that would be detected in future experiments on gravitational waves. In their paper published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters, Baker and Kopp also indicate the prospects of finding proof of their new principle at CERN’s LHC particle accelerator and other experimental facilities.

Reference: “Dark Matter Decay between Phase Transitions at the Weak Scale” by Michael J. Baker and Joachim Kopp, 7 August 2017, Physical Review Letters.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.061801

15 Comments on "Physicists Present a New Theory on the Origin of Dark Matter"

  1. Dark matter and dark energy are left overs from the annihilation of matter and anti-matter. Well it was not annihilation, there was a left over. This is before the symmetries exist.

  2. Nope..it is the opposite.

    Dark mark is the newest matter that has yet to evolve via gravity into observable matter – its too small, too difficult to divide even by light waves, thus more or less impossible to directly observe.

    The universe did not grow from the big bang, that was simply a explosion, thus a reorganisation – a kind of mixing of once separate subverses – it grows from its SOLE content
    expanding energy, that we call Time. Dark matter is simply that which has not yet old enough to have exploded from a geometric centre multiple times and remixed.

    The universe grows “fastest” in terms of the creation of dimensional space from where it is least bounded – ie deep space. This is why galaxies are said to be moving apart, when they are really just regressing due to being pushed away by new growth. Black holes are when this relative regression is aged – ie it is post: Space > Dark Energy > Dark Matter > Energy > Matter > Forms such as stars and galaxies > black holes.

    The universe grows from the inside out AND the outside in. The so called “first cause” is a constant cause – all space, time, matter, forces come from this self-expansion. There is actually no other way to power the universe. Newtons First Law of Thermodynamics refers to ISOLATED systems (which are not possible). Einstein was much closer – but he had to add a universal constant to cater for this continuous expansionary growth of the content of the universe.

    • dear Jiimhhaz;
      I agree with you you are pretty close to the eternal answer but may be I should remind you that if you answer the question it will cause to open a door of a new big question.
      Regards
      Cihan

  3. is there such a thing as dark light – theorising that visible light has an equal and opposite ? If so , then could dark matter be accelerated to dark light speed ?

  4. Recently two papers have been published. The first one deals with the measurement of the speed of rotation of galaxies and, in our view, closes the issue of the existence of dark matter. The second one argues that the expansion of the universe is not accelerating. However, this fact does not answer the question as to what in general is the cause of the universe’s expansion and does not address the widespread opinion that 70% of the universe consists of dark energy.
    https://www.academia.edu/31095808/There_Arent_any_Arguments_for_the_Existence_of_Dark_Matter_and_Dark_Energy

  5. Gunn Quznetsov | August 9, 2017 at 8:21 pm | Reply

    Dark energy and Dark matter are mirages
    [ http://vixra.org/pdf/1704.0070v5.pdf pp.45-54]
    http://vixra.org/pdf/1111.0051v9.pdf pp.159–167

  6. I wanna know (childish innocence) “why does the apple fall on the ground?”

  7. Dark matter consists of particles called singularitons. The only property that we can detect is their mass. For modelling purposes we may assume that singularitons spin faster than the speed of light which makes them invisible. For the same purposes we may assume that the speed of light limit only holds for lateral movement at macroscopic scales. The singulariton waves form the dark energy.

  8. I really don’t have any great idea about what dark matter is, but with reference to space and time, perhaps it’s a part of space that is in an earlier or different time. If singularities or black holes are on their own time scale, then we wouldn’t see them since they are on a different time scale, existing earlier or later than the time in our own universe. Does this put them in a different universe? Possibly, although gravity apparently is on the same time scale as light, gravitational waves traveling with the same speed as light particles or photons.
    I’m not sure what happens in black holes, referred to as singularities. Apparently time moving at a different speed inside the black hole than outside the event horizon. Would time move backward inside the black hole? As gravity increased, time goes more slowly, similarly to time moving more slowly as speed increases, so apparently time would reach a standstill as one actually is at the speed of light, and then if things are moving more rapidly than the speed of light, perhaps inside a black hole, with the speed of rotation exceeding that of light, time would actually go backward from what we observe in the here and now outside the black hole.
    Apparently time can’t really be explained by current theories of physics, but obviously, what we refer to as time is occurring. Time is observed and measured, so it exists and people are born, time passes, they grow old and die, so time is certainly something within the human experience.
    Probably issues of “dark matter” can’t be separated from time scales, meaning if dark matter is matter possibly moving faster than the speed of light in black holes, than time would be moving backward and dark matter would only be observed at a different time scale.

    • Dear Steve; 24.10.2017/antalya Türkiye
      I hope I can give an good answer to your comment with my bad English.
      First of all our universe ( I am using that phrase on purposely as if may some other universes exists ) work on basis of thesis anti thesis and syentesis.Matter is a part of thesis as antimatter is on the other side and light stands in the middle as the syntesis.Light is proven by Albert Einstein that it can never exceed the speed of appr.300.000-Kms per second even in the black hole.but can be lowered down even into zero.(may be because of the high gravity of black hole one can not observe the light of it)Anti matter exist but we are not able to measure the abilities of it with the help of normal matter observation tools.
      Sorry for my bad explanations and my English.
      with regards

  9. Is dark matter part of black energy ?

    • Nchanji; 24.10.2017/antalya-Türkiye
      I have no formula but I think dark energy is the mother issue and it creates dark matter and than dark matter creates the normal visible matter.
      Regards
      cihan

  10. My understanding is dark energy produces dark matter and dark matter produces normal visible matter which consists atomic particles.I think there is a correlation between those entities in quantities.someone should work on it.

  11. thanks for your kindness.

  12. Charles Bowen | June 10, 2019 at 2:53 pm | Reply

    matter, anti matter, and dark matter, the 3 phase that Connects the Universal Power Structure ! Every Action Has an EQUAL and Opposite Reaction . Dark Energy Is the Buffer and The conduit for The Universal expansion . Without Dark Matter There Would Be No Expansion !

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