Solving cases
What could the potential discovery tell us about the universe?
Why is there so much dark matter?
About 68 per cent of the universe is made up of dark energy, while dark matter – which is thought to be the stuff that binds galaxies together – makes up about 27 per cent, the rest being everything we can observe. But why is there so much dark matter out there, causing galaxies to rotate faster than the gravity generated by their observable matter? It’s a mystery that has occupied scientists for many years, yet the possibility that new particles exist may provide a connection that goes some way to explaining what dark matter is and how it functions.
Where has all the antimatter gone?
As the name suggests, antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. It’s known that every subatomic particle of normal matter has a corresponding antiparticle, and that as the universe cooled and expanded following the Big Bang, matter and antimatter existed in equal amounts. It’s not the case any more. As time went on, matter came to dominate the universe, and physicists aren’t sure why the 50/50 split was lost. Could potential new particles hold the key to the large-scale disappearance of antimatter?
It’s something scientists will be considering.
Is there a fifth force of nature?
Numerous speculative theories proposing a fifth force of nature have emerged in the past, each seeking to explain why observations don’t tie in well with existing theories. There’s a school of thought that a form of dark energy could be a fifth force, for example, and following the Muon g-2 experiment, the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council said there was “strong evidence for the existence of an undiscovered subatomic particle or new force”. If proven, the muon wobble is certainly going to be creating new laws of physics.