A team of researchers believes they have found a natural explanation for the existence of dark matter and other previously unexplained scientific oddities, but their theory hinges on the existence of a new subatomic particle, a fermion, and an entire fifth dimension “distorted” of the universe.
It sounds like the premise of a mind-blowing science fiction story: it is actually the result of a recent study that researchers hope will shed light on some ancient mysteries of science.
The new speculative particle, which remains to be discovered, is a type of fermion, or subatomic particle (things?) that it would be able to travel through this new fifth dimension and bind dark matter to the luminous matter that comprises everything visible and physical in the universe.
The study of the fifth dimension
The theoretical existence of this particle is consistent with other models of the behavior of dark matter. It seems like a very bold thesis: almost as if physicists wanted to bend the rules of the universe to explain their theory. But the research is serious, and it has just been published in The European Physical Journal C.
According to the study, the introduction of this “new physics” can help lift the veil on these processes currently shrouded in mystery. This leads to a new model of the universe with a fifth dimension that these particles can traverse.
The study was written by theoretical physicists Xavier Castellano e Matthias Neubert of the PRISMA + Cluster of Excellence of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz,. Collaborate with them Adrian Carmona, an Athenea3i fellow at the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Granada.
Fourth and Fifth Dimension
The term fourth dimension refers to an extension beyond length, width, and depth. It implies the need for an additional coordinate in addition to the spatial ones, and in the relativity theory, the fourth dimension refers to the time. The "fifth dimension" is a further concept, developed in the early 900s by the mathematician Theodor Kaluza. It represents an attempt at unification of the gravitational field electromagnetic field, through the introduction of a fifth spatial dimension in addition to the four, three spatial and one temporal, foreseen by general relativity.
We lack the tools to detect this new particle (and the new fifth dimension)
The researchers claim that this new particle would be able to interact with the Higgs boson and would have a strong resemblance to it. However, it would be "heavier". Too much to be detected by any current collider and particle accelerator.
The existence of the particle and the fifth dimension would solve many mysteries related to dark matter.
“If this heavy particle exists, it necessarily connects the visible matter we know with the constituents of dark matter, assuming that dark matter is composed of fundamental fermions, which constitute the fifth dimension, or live in it” explains one of the physicists.
“It's not a far-fetched idea. We know that ordinary matter is made of fermions, and if this fifth dimension exists, they will most likely propagate in it,” they added.
A new model
Although it is currently still difficult to prove the existence of this hypothetical subatomic particle and the fifth dimension, the researchers believe that their study and the model it outlines can help scientists in future studies of cosmology and particle physics.
