{"id":9166,"date":"2021-02-02T11:31:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T11:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=9166"},"modified":"2021-02-02T11:31:14","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T11:31:14","slug":"fifth-dimension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/fifth-dimension\/9166\/","title":{"rendered":"New theory suggests the existence of a fifth dimension could explain dark matter"},"content":{"rendered":"
The team is developing a theory to explain the existence of dark matter, surrounding a fifth dimension in spacetime that goes beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Until now, scientists have faced the problem that the predictions of their theory could not be tested experimentally. They have now overcome this problem in a publication in the current issue of the European Physical Journal C<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n To unify the forces of gravity and electromagnetism in the 1920s, Theodor Kaluza and Oskar Klein speculated about the existence of an extra dimension beyond the familiar three space dimensions and time \u2013 which are combined into 4-dimensional spacetime. If it exists, such a new dimension would have to be tiny and unnoticeable to the human eye. \u00a0In the late 1990s this idea saw a remarkable renaissance, when it was realised that the existence of a fifth dimension could resolve some of the profound open questions of particle physics.<\/p>\n Now, the group from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz\u2019s PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence made another unexpected discovery: they found that the 5-dimensional field equations predicted the existence of a new, heavy particle with similar properties as the famous Higgs boson but a much heavier mass \u2013 so heavy, in fact, that it cannot be produced at CERN\u2019s the Large Hadron Collider<\/a>.<\/p>\n In this new paper, the researchers found a spectacular resolution to this dilemma. They discovered that their proposed particle would necessarily mediate a new force between the known elementary particles (our visible Universe) and the mysterious dark matter.<\/p>\n Even the abundance of dark matter in the cosmos, as observed in astrophysical experiments, can be explained by their theory. This offers exciting new ways to search for the constituents of the dark matter \u2013 via a detour through the extra dimension \u2013 and obtain clues about the physics at a very early stage in the history of our Universe when the dark matter was produced.<\/p>\n Matthias Neubert, head of the research team, said: \u201cAfter years of searching for possible confirmations of our theoretical predictions, we are now confident that the mechanism we have discovered would make the dark matter accessible to forthcoming experiments, because the properties of the new interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter \u2013 which is mediated by our proposed particle \u2013 can be calculated accurately within our theory. In the end \u2013 so our hope \u2013 the new particle may be discovered first through its interactions with the dark sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Theoretical physicists speculate that the existence of a fifth dimension could solve many open questions in physics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[771],"tags":[813,814,821],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe detour through the fifth dimension<\/h3>\n