A team of researchers believe they have found a natural explanation for the existence of dark matter and other scientific oddities so far without explanation, but their theory depends 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 (what's this?) which would be able to travel through this new fifth dimension and bind dark matter to luminous matter which encompasses 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 dark matter behavior. It seems 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 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 pass through.
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 Adrián Carmona, an Athenea3i fellow in the theoretical physics department of the University of Granada.
Fourth and Fifth Dimension
The term fourth dimension refers to an extension further than length, width and depth. It implies the need for a further 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 with the 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 argue that this new particle would be able to interact with the Higgs boson and would have a strong similarity 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 make up the fifth dimension, or live in it," explains one of the physicists.
“This is not a far-fetched idea. We know that ordinary matter is made up of fermions and, if this fifth dimension exists, they will most likely propagate into it, ”they added.
A new model
Although it is still difficult to prove the existence of this hypothetical subatomic particle and the fifth dimension at the moment, the researchers believe that their study and the model outlined by it may help scientists in future studies of cosmology and particle physics.
