Artists’ concept of dark matter.
Theoretical physicists of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) are working on a theory that goes beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and can answer questions where the Standard Model has to pass – for example, with respect to the hierarchies of the masses of elementary particles or the existence of dark matter. The central element of the theory is an extra dimension in spacetime. Until now, scientists have faced the problem that the predictions of their theory could not be tested experimentally. They have now overcome this problem in a publication in the current issue of the European Physical Journal C.
Already in the 1920s, in an attempt to unify the forces of gravity and electromagnetism, Theodor Kaluza and Oskar Klein speculated about the existence of an extra dimension beyond the familiar three space dimensions and time – which in physics are combined into 4-dimensional spacetime. If it exists, such a new dimension would have to be incredibly tiny and unnoticeable to the human eye.
In the late 1990s, this idea saw a remarkable renaissance when it was realized that the existence of a fifth dimension could resolve some of the profound open questions of particle physics. In particular, Yuval Grossman of Stanford University and Matthias Neubert, then a professor at Cornell University in the US, showed in a highly cited publication that the embedding of the Standard Model of particle physics in a 5-dimensional spacetime could explain the so-far mysterious patterns seen in the masses of elementary particles.
Another 20 years later, the group of Professor Matthias Neubert – since 2006 on the faculty of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and spokesperson of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence – made another unexpected discovery: they found that the 5-dimensional field equations predicted the existence of a new heavy particle with similar properties as the famous Higgs boson but a much heavier mass – so heavy, in fact, that it cannot be produced even at the highest-energy particle collider in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Nuclear Research CERN near Geneva in Switzerland.
“It was a nightmare,” recalled Javier Castellano Ruiz, a PhD student involved in the research. “We were excited by the idea that our theory predicts a new particle, but it appeared to be impossible to confirm this prediction in any foreseeable experiment.”
The detour through the fifth dimension
In a recent paper published in the European Physical Journal C, the researchers found a spectacular resolution to this dilemma. They discovered that their proposed particle would necessarily mediate a new force between the known elementary particles of our visible universe and the mysterious dark matter, the dark sector.
Even the abundance of dark matter in the cosmos, as observed in astrophysical experiments, can be explained by their theory. This offers exciting new ways to search for the constituents of the dark matter – literally via a detour through the extra dimension – and obtain clues about the physics at a very early stage in the history of our universe, when dark matter was produced.
“After years of searching for possible confirmations of our theoretical predictions, we are now confident that the mechanism we have discovered would make dark matter accessible to forthcoming experiments, because the properties of the new interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter – which is mediated by our proposed particle – can be calculated accurately within our theory,” said Professor Matthias Neubert, head of the research team.
“In the end – so our hope – the new particle may be discovered first through its interactions with the dark sector.” This example nicely illustrates the fruitful interplay between experimental and theoretical basic science – a hallmark of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence.
Reference: “A warped scalar portal to fermionic dark matter” by Adrian Carmona, Javier Castellano Ruiz and Matthias Neubert, 20 January 2021, The European Physical Journal C.
DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-08851-0
The idea of extra dimensions is also innately part of String Theory, which has 11 dimensions in all. You don’t need another dimension to explain Dark Matter, but you do need String Theory concepts.
A possibility, from a view of String Theory, is that Dark Matter appears to us as an effect of string/anti-string annihilations. As you may know, quantum mechanics requires that strings must be formed as pairs in the quantum foam – a string and an anti-string – that immediately annihilate each other. Quantum mechanics also requires both the string and anti-string to be surrounded by “jitters” that reduce their monstrous vibrating energies. What if this jitter remains for a fraction of an instant after their string/anti-string annihilations? This temporary jitter would be seen by us as matter for that instant before it too returns to the foam. That’s why we never see it – the “mass” lasts only for that instant but is repeated over and over and over, all over. Specifics on this can be found in my YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N84yISQvGCk
Why limit it to 5 dimensions? There are an infinite number of dimensions. It’s mind numbing to think that possibly the world actually works on 20 dimensions, and we only can see 3 or 4. Talk about spooks in the closet. 🙂
According to String Theory, 11 dimensions are the max although we could have fewer. More than 11 collapse to 11.
60 years of physics’ furious curve fits then empirical endeavors have perfectly demonstrated NO SUSY, NO quantum gravitation, NO dark matter, NO extra dimensions, NO deviation of Alpha, Big G, or any other physical constant.
Q: If a cat’s tail were modeled as a leg, how many legs would a cat have?
A: Four.
Euclid navigating across an ocean fails despite being internally flawless. Earth’s surface is elliptic not plane geometry. Something deep within physics is not EMPIRICALLY true despite its derived maths being flawless.
Quantum mechanics demands Hund’s paradox. Chemistry says “nonsense.” Do a cage match – one day in existing equipment chaining three already published experiments.
Hund’s paradox (DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.023202): Put many identical left shoes into Schrödinger’s box,close; wavefunction; open, pour out pairs of shoes. Chirality is ambiguous during molecular matterwave interference. Look. (Hornberger cites a tainted molecule.)
A homochiral molecular beam (Dr. Melanie Schnell) passes through a physical or optical grating (Dr. Markus Arndt). Measure the matterwave interference pattern enantiomer ratio on the fly (Schnell). Physics /exclusive or/ chemistry exits the grating.
https://www.shapeways.com/product/4JQV388WR/ufosane-pendant (Click “3D” upper right) … Test molecule, C_11H_14: six CIP-nameable contingent homochiral centers, plus two more chiral centers, point group D_3. Adding a dipole moment for rotational spectra obtains point group C_3, allowing 2^4 unique optical isomers. Two of the 16 are allowed molecules, homochiral input (left or right shoes only) and presumptive Hund’s paradox racemic output (pairs of shoes). Look.
http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/character_tables/C3.html
… Let’s play symmetry-property hardball.
if this does not result in predicting winning lottery numbers , whats the point ?
Because you can’t find it anywhere else you frauds ! Truly the most remarkable phenomenon is that there are endless studies looking for this tooth fairy ! Costing billions of dollars and literally producing more reasons to disprove the Theroy then anything else. Without super symmetry you can’t have wimps ! And none of your efforts to prove super symmetry have gone that well ! Id think it’s the greatest conspiracy theory ever ? But every year that goes by you seem to make it look worse and worse of reasonable theory at all ! I feel like I would be chastising idiots robbing themselves !
… the fifth one, the funky one, indeed.
When one has a more dimensional space and has a ball with radius that can be in 1, 2, 3, … etc dimensions, the volume will reach its peak at 5.
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… All one needs to do, is find the evidence for those extra dimensions… and according to AA the time is a dimension, however, is it the same like others, …
Probably nonsense but it claims provable so prove it! I doubt very much they will find anything. The 4th dimension is really not a dimension at all as we are accustomed. It should have just been called 3D space with time added as a adjunct non-palpable dimension. In that context it works perfectly in GR. So as a physicist, provide it to 5 sigma in multiple different ways by multiple separate researchers.
I dont belong in this comment section but I’m happy to be here.
I love all these crackpots with zero understanding of physics screaming in the comments about how all of physics is wrong and only they know the true reality of the universe, because they read a pop sci news article once and now know more about physics than people who have dedicated their lives to studying it.
Stay entertaining, you crazy fools.
I am just happy to be reading about something I have no idea about. To be honest, how is time a dimension? Can someone help me from there.