Apr 5, 2023 02:03 PM
https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article...e-universe
EXCERPTS: Although the motions of galaxies provide evidence that dark matter exists, scientists have yet to directly detect the invisible stuff, or figure out what it could be made of.
The prevailing theory over the past several decades has been that dark matter is made up of particles that act like teeny, tiny billiard balls bouncing around in space. Considering that all the matter we can see is made up of particles that behave that way, the idea seems logical. But in recent years, a growing number of physicists have been exploring the hypothesis that dark matter primarily exists in a different form: invisible waves.
[....] Multiple theories describe different versions of wavelike dark matter. Physicists’ current favorite candidate is the quantum chromodynamics axion, or QCD axion.
[...] Another wavelike dark matter candidate is the dark photon, which “you can think of as being like a cousin of the photon,” says Tien-Tien Yu, a particle phenomenologist and associate professor at the University of Oregon.
The dark photon would be similar to the photon, except that it would have a very small electromagnetic charge and could also have a mass, she says... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Although the motions of galaxies provide evidence that dark matter exists, scientists have yet to directly detect the invisible stuff, or figure out what it could be made of.
The prevailing theory over the past several decades has been that dark matter is made up of particles that act like teeny, tiny billiard balls bouncing around in space. Considering that all the matter we can see is made up of particles that behave that way, the idea seems logical. But in recent years, a growing number of physicists have been exploring the hypothesis that dark matter primarily exists in a different form: invisible waves.
[....] Multiple theories describe different versions of wavelike dark matter. Physicists’ current favorite candidate is the quantum chromodynamics axion, or QCD axion.
[...] Another wavelike dark matter candidate is the dark photon, which “you can think of as being like a cousin of the photon,” says Tien-Tien Yu, a particle phenomenologist and associate professor at the University of Oregon.
The dark photon would be similar to the photon, except that it would have a very small electromagnetic charge and could also have a mass, she says... (MORE - missing details)