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can CERN create dark matter in particle accelerators? how do people go about reasoning about it if it can't be created on earth

by chefkd 2y ago

jfengel 2y ago
Probably not. There were hopes that dark matter might arise from supersymmetry, and that if so the LHC might be able to create it. Thus far they haven't found it, which is a big strike against supersymmetry, as well as a loss of an avenue for exploring dark matter. So back to the drawing board. At that drawing board, they have other tools to look at. Often, they're astronomical and cosmological. One big clue is the "Bullet Cluster", where two galaxies collided, and the regular mass smashed into each other but the dark matter kept going. And they can look at the distribution of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which would show the influence of early dark matter. Using that they know that dark matter must be "cold", i.e. not moving near the speed of light. So it must be fairly heavy -- heavier than neutrinos, at least, another particle that's maddeningly hard to detect. (They do have neutrino detectors that also hope to spot a dark matter collision event, but it's unlikely.) If supersymmetry doesn't cut it, they'll need a new way to fix other problems with the Standard Model. Those would hopefully predict another dark-matter-like particle (massive, weakly interacting), which in turn would point in the direction of a detector. But there aren't any front-runners at the moment.
thezipcreator 2y ago
Dark matter is more of an observation than a theory. The gravitational motions of galaxies doesn't really make sense without it (and with dark matter + General Relativity, it fits perfectly, so we have good reason to believe it exists). There are a few different theories on what dark matter is; there's axions, supersymmetry (from string theory), cold dark matter and more.
number6 2y ago
Dark Matter is not the same as antimatter, which CERN did produce. There are speculations if there are antimatter galaxies out there and that they are in fact the dark Matter that we search for. But dark matter is in essence matter that should be there, e.g. because a solar system behaves like it is in its gravitational field, but cannot be detected by our instruments. Maybe it is a flaw in our theory, like the time we found out that newtons physic has some flaws, or we can't detect it because it is made of stuff that we can't measure yet.
- dave333 2y ago
  Enter Mills classical theory of atomic structure that predicts dark matter is just hydrogen with the electron in a lower orbit that doesn't radiate (hence dark). This stuff has been created in the lab and measured every which way, for example in a gas chromatograph where it flows through faster than normal hydrogen. https://brilliantlightpower.com/theory/ https://brilliantlightpower.com/theory/

can CERN create dark matter in particle accelerators? how do people go about reasoning about it if it can't be created on earth

by chefkd 2y ago

can CERN create dark matter in particle accelerators? how do people go about reasoning about it if it can't be created on earth

jfengel 2y ago

Probably not. There were hopes that dark matter might arise from supersymmetry, and that if so the LHC might be able to create it. Thus far they haven't found it, which is a big strike against supersymmetry, as well as a loss of an avenue for exploring dark matter. So back to the drawing board. At that drawing board, they have other tools to look at. Often, they're astronomical and cosmological. One big clue is the "Bullet Cluster", where two galaxies collided, and the regular mass smashed into each other but the dark matter kept going. And they can look at the distribution of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which would show the influence of early dark matter. Using that they know that dark matter must be "cold", i.e. not moving near the speed of light. So it must be fairly heavy -- heavier than neutrinos, at least, another particle that's maddeningly hard to detect. (They do have neutrino detectors that also hope to spot a dark matter collision event, but it's unlikely.) If supersymmetry doesn't cut it, they'll need a new way to fix other problems with the Standard Model. Those would hopefully predict another dark-matter-like particle (massive, weakly interacting), which in turn would point in the direction of a detector. But there aren't any front-runners at the moment.

thezipcreator 2y ago

Dark matter is more of an observation than a theory. The gravitational motions of galaxies doesn't really make sense without it (and with dark matter + General Relativity, it fits perfectly, so we have good reason to believe it exists). There are a few different theories on what dark matter is; there's axions, supersymmetry (from string theory), cold dark matter and more.

number6 2y ago

Dark Matter is not the same as antimatter, which CERN did produce. There are speculations if there are antimatter galaxies out there and that they are in fact the dark Matter that we search for. But dark matter is in essence matter that should be there, e.g. because a solar system behaves like it is in its gravitational field, but cannot be detected by our instruments. Maybe it is a flaw in our theory, like the time we found out that newtons physic has some flaws, or we can't detect it because it is made of stuff that we can't measure yet.

dave333 2y ago
Enter Mills classical theory of atomic structure that predicts dark matter is just hydrogen with the electron in a lower orbit that doesn't radiate (hence dark). This stuff has been created in the lab and measured every which way, for example in a gas chromatograph where it flows through faster than normal hydrogen. https://brilliantlightpower.com/theory/ https://brilliantlightpower.com/theory/