Dark matter could remain hidden
Astronomers at the University of St Andrews have taken a new approach to describe dark matter and energy that, if correct, may render planned experiments to search for dark matter particles using the Large Hadron Collider unsuccessful.
Astronomers at the University of St Andrews have taken a new approach to describe dark matter and energy that, if correct, may render planned experiments to search for dark matter particles using the Large Hadron Collider unsuccessful.
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| Dark energy is thought to make up the majority of the universe |
Dr HongSheng Zhao, research leader said: “The search for dark matter particles so far has concentrated on highly energetic particles. If dark matter however, is a twin phenomenon of dark energy, it will not show up at instruments like the LHC, but has been seen over and over again in galaxies by astronomers.”
Dr Zhao’s new model considers both dark matter and dark energy as a “dark fluid” like two faces of the same coin. When considering galaxies, dark fluids acts like dark matter but when considering the whole Universe they act like dark energy. Dr Zhao’s theory predicts that the energies of dark matter particles would be so small that the LHC, due to begin experiments later this year, may not be able to detect them at all.
Unlike some previous work, Dr Zhao has created a model that agrees with the 3:1 ratio of dark energy to dark matter predicted by cosmologists.
The work is published by Astrophysical Journal Letters and Physics Review D.
By Leila Sattary
