Faster than Light: New Findings on Dark Matter Challenge Classical Physics!

Dark matter is an unknown substance, which constitutes about one quarter of the mass energy total density of the universe. It does not produce or emit, absorb or reflect light hence cannot be seen but be identified by the gravitational pull it exercises. Scientists deduce the existence of dark matter with the effect on the rotation of galaxies, gravitational lensing and the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Despite its overbearing influence on the phenomenon of gravity, we do not know what dark matter is constituted from: best current theories estimate that it contains particles called WIMPs, or axions. Subsequently, it was shown that dark matter must be understood in order to make sense of how galaxies and galaxy clusters assembled and developed in the early universe since they offer the mass that is required for these structures to coalesce and then continue to grow.

The study of the properties of dark matter is one of the greatest mysteries of the contemporary astrophysics ; scientists use increasingly sophisticated equipments such as detectors and accelerators to solve this mystery.