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Researchers suspect a new particle - a portal to a fifth dimension

They hope to finally gain access to dark matter via the extra dimension.

By AddictiveWritingsPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Researchers suspect a new particle - a portal to a fifth dimension
Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash

A fifth dimension? That's not just material for a Rick and Morty episode, but also a thoroughly serious scientific consideration - and not just since yesterday.

Since the 1920s, physicists have been pondering whether there are other dimensions beyond the known four dimensions of space-time, i.e. the three spatial dimensions and time. Over the years, several papers have been written that we're able to solve several physical problems with the help of an extra dimension. However, only, in theory, these hypotheses could not be tested experimentally. This could now change.

In January, a paper appeared in the journal European Physical Journal C, in which three theoretical physicists explain that they have solved the problem with the help of a new particle. The authors - Javier Castellano and Matthias Neubert of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and Adrian Carmona of the University of Granada - believe that this new particle could provide indirect access to dark matter and insights into the early history of the universe. In addition, it could solve some fundamental theoretical problems with subatomic particles, so-called fermions.

Fermions are the particles that make up matter. Their counterparts are bosons, which, roughly speaking, make up force and radiation fields.

"Originally, we wanted to use theories with an extra dimension to explain the origin of fermion mass. We knew that the masses of these constituents have special properties that cry out for an explanation."

As the team examined these theoretical equations in terms of fermion mass, they outlined the existence of a new scalar field, which in turn interacts with a speculative, particularly heavy particle. This is all abstract and complicated but can be roughly compared to the Higgs boson and its interaction with the Higgs field. If that helps you out.

When they tested their hypothesis, physicists realized that their new particle could be "a unique window" to dark matter. If it exists, it would be a link between dark matter and its visible counterpart - the matter that makes up stars, planets, and everything else in light-based astronomy.

"If this heavy particle exists, it would connect visible matter to dark matter constituents - assuming that dark matter is made up of elementary fermions that exist in the extra dimension," the physicists said. "The idea is not far-fetched. We know that normal matter is made of fermions."

If there is an extra dimension, the researchers write, fermions are likely to exist there as well.

The hypothetical particle's models also do not contradict previous observations of dark matter in the universe. Thanks in part to their detailed calculations, the scientists are optimistic that the particle could be "a messenger to the dark sector."

"Because of this, confirmation of this new particle would clear an exciting path toward the possible discovery of dark matter," the team says. "In particular, it would give us useful information about the mass spectrum of dark matter and its interaction with known elementary particles."

The practical search for the particle and its fifth dimension, however, is proving difficult. The Higgs boson was discovered in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider LHC in Switzerland - some 50 years after it was first proposed in theoretical work. Unfortunately, all existing, as well as planned, particle accelerators fall away in the search for the new particle. It is simply too heavy to be produced there.

However, the researchers think that "the new particle will not be detected directly, but via its interaction," Matthias Neubert said in a press release.

Further studies on the dark matter could also help narrow down how likely the existence of this particle really is. The team is optimistic that the concept of the fifth dimension will continue to be fleshed out with further advances in particle physics and cosmology. Aside from its importance in understanding dark matter, the particle, if it exists, could help explain unsolved scientific problems such as the hierarchy problem. And open a new window into the early universe.

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About the Creator

AddictiveWritings

I’m a young creative writer and artist from Germany who has a fable for anything strange or odd.^^

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