Dark matter remains one of the greatest mysteries of modern physics. It is clear that it must exist, because without dark matter, for example, the motion of galaxies cannot be explained. But it has never been possible to detect dark matter in an experiment.
Dark matter remains one of the greatest mysteries of modern physics. It is clear that it must exist, because without dark matter, for example, the motion of galaxies cannot be explained. But it has never been possible to detect dark matter in an experiment.
Currently, there are many proposals for new experiments: They aim to detect dark matter directly via its scattering from the constituents of the atomic nuclei of a detection medium, i.e., protons and neutrons.
A team of researchers—Robert McGehee and Aaron Pierce of the University of Michigan and Gilly Elor of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany—has now proposed a new candidate for dark matter: HYPER, or „HighlY Interactive ParticlE Relics.“
In the HYPER model, some time after the formation of dark matter in the early universe, the strength of its interaction with normal matter increases abruptly—which on the one hand, makes it potentially detectable today and at the same time can explain the abundance of dark matter.
Since the search for heavy dark matter particles, or so-called WIMPS, has not yet led to success, the research community is looking for alternative dark matter particles, especially lighter ones. At the same time, one generically expects phase transitions in the dark sector—after all, there are several in the visible sector, the researchers say. But previous studies have tended to neglect them.
