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This study, which was published in The European
Physical Journal C, is the first to coherently apply the theory to explain the
long-standing dark matter problem in particle physics, despite the fact that
the "warped extra dimension" (WED) is a trademark of a popular
physics model that was first introduced in 1999.
Dark matter, which makes up the overwhelming bulk of
the universe's matter, is the foundation upon which our understanding of the
physical cosmos is built.
Because many characteristics would disintegrate or
break apart without the "x factor" of dark matter, dark matter
functions as a kind of fill-in player that aids scientists in explaining how
gravity operates. Even still, dark matter must possess additional unique
characteristics since it doesn't interfere with the particles that we can see
and "feel."
“[T]here are still some questions which do not have
an answer within the [standard model of physics],” the scientists, from Spain
and Germany, explain in their study.
“One of the most significant examples is the
so-called hierarchy problem, the question why the Higgs boson is 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.”
The goal of the new research is to use a WED model
to explain the existence of dark matter. The researchers analyzed fermion
masses, which they think might travel via portals into the fifth dimension to
form "fermionic dark matter" and dark matter remnants.
Could fermions that traverse between dimensions
explain at least part of the dark matter that has evaded detection so far? “We
know that there is no viable [dark matter] candidate in the [standard model of
physics],” the scientists say, “so already this fact asks for the presence of
new physics.”
In essence, a crucial mathematical construct
produces fermion bulk masses that appear in the so-called fifth-dimensional
warped space.
One explanation for the enormous quantity of dark
matter that has so far evaded detection using any conventional measures created
for the standard model of physics is this small "dark sector."
Fermions crammed through a distorted fifth-dimension portal may be "acting
as" dark matter.
How would we detect this kind of dark matter to
confirm it? This continues to be the main obstacle for many different dark
matter theories.
However, all that would be required to locate fermionic dark matter in a warped fifth dimension is the appropriate gravitational wave detector, which is becoming more and more commonplace globally. The solution to the mystery of dark matter may well be close at hand.
Reference(s): Research Paper
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