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A pair of astrophysicists with Princeton University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory found possible evidence of dark matter particles colliding. In their study, published in Physical Review Letters, Carlos Blanco and Rebecca Leane conducted measurements of Jupiter’s equatorial region at night to minimize auroral influences.

Since it was first proposed back in the 1930s, dark matter has been at the forefront of physics research, though it has yet to be directly detected. Still, most in the field believe it makes up roughly 70% to 80% of all matter in the universe. It is believed to exist because it is the only explanation for odd gravitational effects observed in galaxy motion and the movement of stars.

Researchers posit that it might be possible to detect dark matter indirectly by identifying the heat or light emitted when particles of dark matter collide and destroy each other. In this new study, the researchers found what they believe may be such an instance—light in Jupiter’s dark-side outer atmosphere.

Physicists have proposed a new theory: in the first quintillionth of a second, the universe may have sprouted microscopic black holes with enormous amounts of nuclear charge.

For every kilogram of matter that we can see — from the computer on your desk to distant stars and galaxies — there are 5kgs of invisible matter that suffuse our surroundings. This “dark matter” is a mysterious entity that evades all forms of direct observation yet makes its presence felt through its invisible pull on visible objects.

Continue reading “What happened in Big Bang — new theory, new state of matter” »

A research team led by Academician Du Jiangfeng and Professor Rong Xing from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with Professor Jiao Man from Zhejiang University, has used solid-state spin quantum sensors to examine exotic spin-spin-velocity-dependent interactions (SSIVDs) at short force ranges. Their study reports new experimental findings concerning interactions between electron spins and has been published in Physical Review Letters.

The Standard Model is a very successful theoretical framework in particle physics, describing fundamental particles and four basic interactions. However, the Standard Model still cannot explain some important observational facts in current cosmology, such as dark matter and dark energy.

Some theories suggest that new particles can act as propagators, transmitting new interactions between Standard Model particles. At present, there is a lack of experimental research on new interactions related to velocity between spins, especially in the relatively small range of force distance, where experimental verification is almost non-existent.

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Researchers at UC Berkeley have enhanced the precision of gravity experiments using an atom interferometer combined with an optical lattice, significantly extending the time atoms can be held in free fall. Despite not yet finding deviations from Newton’s gravity, these advancements could potentially reveal new quantum aspects of gravity and test theories about exotic particles like chameleons or symmetrons.

Twenty-six years ago physicists discovered dark energy — a mysterious force pushing the universe apart at an ever-increasing rate. Ever since, scientists have been searching for a new and exotic particle causing the expansion.

Continue reading “Beyond Gravity: UC Berkeley’s Quantum Leap in Dark Energy Research” »

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What would Brian Greene do if he could travel through time, and which future technology is he most excited about?

Continue reading “Brian Greene: The Most Important Question in Science” »

For decades, inflation has been the dominant cosmological scenario, but recently the theory has been subject to competition and critique. Two renowned pioneers of inflation — Alan Guth and Andrei Linde — join Brian Greene to make their strongest case for the inflationary theory.

This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Continue reading “Epic Expansion: The Case for Inflationary Cosmology” »

Berkeley researchers have developed an ultra-precise instrument that captures atoms in free fall to search for dark energy, the force accelerating the universe’s expansion.

Experiment captures atoms in free fall to look for gravitational anomalies caused by universe’s missing energy

By Robert Sanders

Continue reading “With a new, incredibly precise instrument, Berkeley researchers narrow search for dark energy” »

For the last seven decades, astrophysicists have theorized the existence of “kugelblitze,” black holes caused by extremely high concentrations of light.

These special black holes, they speculated, might be linked to astronomical phenomena such as dark matter, and have even been suggested as the power source of hypothetical spaceship engines in the far future.

However, new theoretical physics research by a team of researchers at the University of Waterloo and Universidad Complutense de Madrid demonstrates that kugelblitze are impossible in our current universe. Their research, titled “No black holes from light,” is published on the arXiv preprint server and is forthcoming in Physical Review Letters.

The universe is a massive place, with galaxies well beyond our own. However, some also hypothesize that there may be more than one universe. The multiverse theory essentially suggests that our universe is just one of many branching and infinite universes. These universes are believed to have appeared just after the Big Bang, and now, scientists may be closer than ever to proving this theory is correct.

The idea of a multiverse existing has gained a lot of following over the past several years—not only in entertainment avenues like the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also in the scientific community, especially since the 1980s when inflation—a period when the universe suddenly expanded—was invented. Inflation is the main explanation for why the universe is so smooth and flat. It also predicts the existence of several independent universes beyond our own.

But inflation isn’t the only route that scientists have looked at to prove the multiverse theory. Others have looked at alternatives called cyclic universes, which basically say the universe is on an unending cycle of ballooning and then compressing. It still focuses on that multiple universe prospect—though it focuses on them appearing at different times.