Dark Matter May Interact with Cosmic Ghost Particles, Hinting at a Fundamental Breakthrough

Now there's new evidence that dark matter, which constitutes about 85 per cent of all the matter in the universe, may interact with almost entirely invisible cosmic “ghost particles” known as neutrinos. These chargeless, nearly weightless particles sail through normal matter without any effect on them; similarly, dark matter is seen only via its gravitational pull. Current observations show that cosmic structures today are slightly less clumped than they should be, as would be the case if there were a small interaction between dark matter and neutrinos. If verified, the detection may call into question the standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) model and offer new information about the universe's evolution and structure.

Study Suggests Dark Matter-Neutrino Interaction May Explain Universe's Smoothness

According to a Nature Astronomy report, researchers from the University of Sheffield analysed galaxy maps from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Dark Energy Camera, and measurements by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, as well as observations using ESA's Planck spacecraft. They detected a slight discrepancy between early-time and late-time cosmological structure measurements, hinting that dark matter and neutrinos could pass very small amounts of momentum to one another.

The team mentioned this interaction might offer an explanation for why the modern universe is less clumpy than theory would predict.

CMB and Gravitational Lensing Could Confirm Dark Matter-Neutrino Interaction, Offering Breakthrough in Particle Physics

Further testing of this idea may be possible by observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background and gravitational lensing. If confirmed, it would be a huge development, giving particle physicists a path to try to study dark matter in the laboratory.

“This research addresses a long-standing cosmological puzzle and could reveal new mechanisms for structure formation,” team member Eleonora Di Valentino stated. William Giarè added that confirming the interaction would help unravel dark matter's true nature.