It is clear that it should exist, because without dark matter, for example, the movement of galaxies can not be described. This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the distribution of dark matter in the center of the huge galaxy cluster Abell 1689, containing about 1,000 galaxies and trillions of stars.Dark matter is an undetectable kind of matter that accounts for many of the universes mass. Astronomers presumed its place by analyzing the effect of gravitational lensing, where light from galaxies behind Abell 1689 is distorted by intervening matter within the cluster.Researchers utilized the observed positions of 135 lensed images of 42 background galaxies to determine the place and amount of dark matter in the cluster. They superimposed a map of these inferred dark matter concentrations, tinted blue, on an image of the cluster taken by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. Given that the search for heavy dark matter particles, or so-called WIMPS, has not yet led to success, the research neighborhood is looking for alternative dark matter particles, especially lighter ones.
A team of researchers has now proposed a brand-new prospect for dark matter: HYPER, or “HighlY Interactive ParticlE Relics.”
Phase transition in early universe changes strength of interaction between normal and dark matter.
Dark matter stays one of the biggest secrets of modern physics. It is clear that it needs to exist, because without dark matter, for example, the movement of galaxies can not be discussed. It has never been possible to discover dark matter in an experiment.
Currently, there are lots of proposals for brand-new experiments: They intend to identify dark matter directly through its scattering from the constituents of the atomic nuclei of a detection medium, i.e., neutrons and protons.
A team of researchers– Robert McGehee and Aaron Pierce of the University of Michigan and Gilly Elor of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany– has actually now proposed a new candidate for dark matter: HYPER, or “HighlY Interactive ParticlE Relics.”
In the HYPER model, sometime after the formation of dark matter in the early universe, the strength of its interaction with regular matter increases quickly– which on the one hand, makes it possibly detectable today and at the same time can discuss the abundance of dark matter.
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the distribution of dark matter in the center of the huge galaxy cluster Abell 1689, consisting of about 1,000 galaxies and trillions of stars.Dark matter is an unnoticeable form of matter that represents many of the universes mass. Hubble can not see the dark matter straight. Astronomers inferred its location by analyzing the impact of gravitational lensing, where light from galaxies behind Abell 1689 is distorted by intervening matter within the cluster.Researchers used the observed positions of 135 lensed pictures of 42 background galaxies to determine the area and amount of dark matter in the cluster. They superimposed a map of these presumed dark matter concentrations, tinted blue, on an image of the cluster taken by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. The lensing distortions would be much weaker if the clusters gravity came just from the noticeable galaxies. The map reveals that the densest concentration of dark matter remains in the clusters core.Abell 1689 resides 2.2 billion light-years from Earth. The image was taken in June 2002. Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Coe (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, and Space Telescope Science Institute), N. Benitez (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain), T. Broadhurst (University of the Basque Country, Spain), and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University).
The brand-new diversity in the dark matter sector.
Since the look for heavy dark matter particles, or so-called WIMPS, has not yet led to success, the research study community is trying to find alternative dark matter particles, specifically lighter ones. At the exact same time, one generically expects stage transitions in the dark sector– after all, there are a number of in the visible sector, the researchers state. Previous research studies have tended to disregard them.
” There has not been a consistent dark matter design for the mass variety that some planned experiments wish to access. “However, our HYPER model highlights that a stage shift can actually help make the dark matter more quickly noticeable,” said Elor, a postdoctoral researcher in theoretical physics at JGU.
The difficulty for an ideal design: If dark matter communicates too strongly with typical matter, its (precisely known) amount formed in the early universe would be too little, opposing astrophysical observations. Nevertheless, if it is produced in simply the right quantity, the interaction would on the other hand be too weak to identify dark matter in present-day experiments.
” Our main concept, which underlies the HYPER model, is that the interaction modifications suddenly once– so we can have the very best of both worlds: the correct amount of dark matter and a large interaction so we may find it,” McGehee said.
And this is how the researchers imagine it: In particle physics, an interaction is normally moderated by a specific particle, a so-called conciliator– therefore is the interaction of dark matter with normal matter. Both the development of dark matter and its detection function through this arbitrator, with the strength of the interaction depending upon its mass: The larger the mass, the weaker the interaction.
The conciliator must initially be heavy enough so that the appropriate quantity of dark matter is formed and later light enough so that dark matter is detectable at all. The solution: There was a phase shift after the formation of dark matter, throughout which the mass of the arbitrator all of a sudden decreased.
” Thus, on the one hand, the quantity of dark matter is kept constant, and on the other hand, the interaction is boosted or strengthened in such a method that dark matter should be straight detectable,” Pierce said.
New design covers nearly the complete criterion variety of prepared experiments.
” The HYPER model of dark matter is able to cover nearly the entire variety that the new experiments make available,” Elor said.
Particularly, the research study group first considered the optimum cross-section of the mediator-mediated interaction with the protons and neutrons of an atomic nucleus to be constant with certain particle-physics and astrological observations decomposes. The next step was to think about whether there was a model for dark matter that exhibited this interaction.
” And here we developed the idea of the stage shift,” McGehee said. “We then calculated the quantity of dark matter that exists in the universe and after that simulated the phase transition utilizing our computations.”.
There are a great many restrictions to think about, such as a continuous quantity of dark matter.
” Here, we need to methodically consider and consist of very lots of situations, for instance, asking the concern whether it is actually particular that our mediator does not unexpectedly lead to the formation of new dark matter, which obviously should not be,” Elor said. “But in the end, we were encouraged that our HYPER model works.”.
The research study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Referral: “Maximizing Direct Detection with Highly Interactive Particle Relic Dark Matter” by Gilly Elor, Robert McGehee and Aaron Pierce, 20 January 2023, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.130.031803.
