According to a recent research, the existence of a particle connected to a fifth dimension might explain dark matter.

This study, which was published in The European Physical Journal C, is the first to coherently apply the theory to explain the long-standing dark matter problem in particle physics, despite the fact that the “warped extra dimension” (WED) is a trademark of a popular physics model that was first introduced in 1999.

Dark matter, which makes up the overwhelming bulk of the universe’s matter, is the foundation upon which our understanding of the physical cosmos is built. 

Because many characteristics would disintegrate or break apart without the “x factor” of dark matter, dark matter functions as a kind of fill-in player that aids scientists in explaining how gravity operates. Even still, dark matter must possess additional unique characteristics since it doesn’t interfere with the particles that we can see and “feel.”

“[T]here are still some questions which do not have an answer within the [standard model of physics],” the scientists, from Spain and Germany, explain in their study. 

“One of the most significant examples is the so-called hierarchy problem, the question why the Higgs boson is much lighter than the characteristic scale of gravity. [The standard model of physics] cannot accommodate some other observed phenomena. One of the most striking examples is the existence of dark matter.”

The goal of the new research is to use a WED model to explain the existence of dark matter. The researchers analyzed fermion mᴀsses, which they think might travel via portals into the fifth dimension to form “fermionic dark matter” and dark matter remnants.

Could fermions that traverse between dimensions explain at least part of the dark matter that has evaded detection so far? “We know that there is no viable [dark matter] candidate in the [standard model of physics],” the scientists say, “so already this fact asks for the presence of new physics.”

In essence, a crucial mathematical construct produces fermion bulk mᴀsses that appear in the so-called fifth-dimensional warped space. 

One explanation for the enormous quanтιтy of dark matter that has so far evaded detection using any conventional measures created for the standard model of physics is this small “dark sector.” Fermions crammed through a distorted fifth-dimension portal may be “acting as” dark matter.

How would we detect this kind of dark matter to confirm it? This continues to be the main obstacle for many different dark matter theories. 

However, all that would be required to locate fermionic dark matter in a warped fifth dimension is the appropriate gravitational wave detector, which is becoming more and more commonplace globally. The solution to the mystery of dark matter may well be close at hand.

Reference(s): Research Paper