Scientists Create New Model for Detecting Dark Matter

Scientists have created a new model for detecting dark matter, a mysterious particle that has long been a cosmological enigma in the world of physics.

Astrophysicists believe that about 80 percent of the substance of our Universe is made up of mysterious "dark matter" that can't be perceived by human senses or scientific instruments.

But since it can't be detected, all scientists have to go on is astronomical observation.

So to get to the bottom of this troublesome puzzle, Mikhail Medvedev, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, has proposed a new model - dubbed "flavor-mixed multicomponent dark matter" - to identify the elusive substance.

His breakthrough research was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

"Dark matter is some unknown matter, most likely a new elementary particle or particles beyond the Standard Model," Medvedev said in a statement. "It has never been observed directly, but it reveals itself via gravity it produces in the Universe. There are numerous experiments around the world aimed at finding it directly."

Medvedev's theory is based on the behavior of elementary particles that have previously been observed or hypothesized. According to the currently used Standard Model theory, elementary particles are what make up an atom, and can be categorized into different "flavors" based on their different properties.

And because these particles combine with each other, the phenomenon has been dubbed flavor-mixing.

"If white was a particular flavor, then red, green and blue would be different masses - masses one, two and three - that mix up together to create white," Medvedev explained. "By changing proportions of red, green and blue in the mix, one can make different colors, or flavors, other than white."

Medvedev believes that dark matter can also be flavor-mixed.

Using supercomputer simulations working for a period of time equivalent to 230 years, he solved what is called the "Lambda-CDM model" theory's long-standing puzzle by observing a physics phenomenon known as quantum evaporation.

"Our results demonstrated that the flavor-mixed, two-component dark matter model resolved all the most pressing Lambda-CDM problems simultaneously," Medvedev concluded.