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Explaining dark matter and black holes
Here are six big questions about our universe that current physics can’t answer:
What is dark energy, the mysterious energy that appears to be accelerating the expansion of the universe?
What is dark matter, the invisible substance we can only detect by its gravitational effect on stars and galaxies?
What caused inflation, the blindingly fast expansion of the universe immediately after the Big Bang?
For that matter, what caused the Big Bang?
Are there many possible Big Bangs or universes?
Is there a telltale characteristic associated with the death of a universe?
Despite the efforts of some of the world’s brightest brains, the Standard Model of particle physics – our current best theory of how the universe works at a fundamental level – has no solution to these stumpers.
A compelling new theory claims to solve all six in a single sweep. The answer, according to a paper published in European Physical Journal C by Herb Fried from Brown University and Yves Gabellini from INLN-Université de Nice, may be a kind of particle called a tachyon.
Tachyons are hypothetical particles that travel faster than light. According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity – and according to experiment so far – in our ‘real’ world, particles can never travel faster than light. Which is just as well: if they did, our ideas about cause and effect would be thrown out the window, because it would be possible to see an effect manifest before its cause.
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