How heavy is dark matter? Scientists radically reduce potential mass range for the first time

Scientists have calculated the mass series for Dark Matter – and it is stricter than the scientific world thought.

Their findings – to be published in Physics Letters B in March – radically limits the range of potential masses for Dark Matter particles, helping to focus the search for future Dark Matter hunters. The researchers from the University of Sussex use the established fact that gravity acts on Dark Matter, just as it acts on the visible universe to work out the lower and upper limits of Dark Matter’s mass.

The results show that Dark Matter cannot be ‘ultra-light’ or ‘super-heavy’, as some theorize, unless an as yet undiscovered force also acts on it.

The team uses the assumption that the only force acting on Dark Matter is gravity, and calculates that Dark Matter particles must have a mass between 10^-3 eV en 10⁷ eV. This is a much stricter series than the 10^-24 eV – 10¹⁹ GeV spectrum generally theorized.

What makes the discovery even more important is that if it turns out that the mass of Dark Matter is beyond the reach predicted by the Sussex team, then it will also prove that an additional force as well as gravity acts on Dark Matter.

Professor Xavier Calmet of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex, said:

“This is the first time anyone has thought of using what we know about quantum gravity as a way to calculate the mass range for Dark Matter. We were surprised to realize that no one has done it before – just like the co-scientists reviewed it.our newspaper.

“What we have done shows that Dark Matter cannot be ‘ultra-light’ or ‘super-heavy’ as some theorize, unless there is another unknown additional force acting on it. This research helps physicists in two ways: it focuses the search area for Dark Matter, and it may also help reveal if there is a mysterious unknown additional power in the universe.

Folkert Kuipers, a Ph.D. student working with Professor Calmet at the University of Sussex said:

“As a PhD student, it’s great to be able to work on such exciting and influential research as this. Our findings are very good news for experiments, because it will help them get closer to discovering the true nature of Dark Matter to come. “

The visible universe – like ourselves, the planets and stars – is responsible for 25 percent of all mass in the universe. The remaining 75 percent consists of Dark Matter.

Gravity is known to act on Dark Matter because it is the shape of galaxies.