Recent Study Offers Additional Insights into the Properties of Dark Matter

The key to understanding the mystery of elusive dark matter could lie with the dark photon, a hypothetical dark sector particle proposed as a force carrier similar to the photon of electromagnetism.

“Dark matter constitutes 84% of the matter in the Universe, yet remains a profound mystery,” noted Professor Anthony Thomas from the University of Adelaide, a co-author of a paper recently published in the Journal of High Energy Physics.

“Despite its established gravitational interactions, the precise nature of dark matter continues to elude us, posing one of the greatest challenges for physicists worldwide.”

The potential key to unraveling this mystery lies in the dark photon, a theoretical massive particle that could act as a link between the dark sector of particles and regular matter. Regular matter, composing our physical world, is significantly less abundant than dark matter, with five times more dark matter existing.

Professor Thomas and his colleagues from the Jefferson Lab Angular Momentum (JAM) Collaboration are exploring various approaches to gain insights into dark matter, with a focus on testing existing theories. The dark photon, a proposed force carrier akin to the electromagnetism’s photon, is a crucial aspect of their investigations.

In their recent study, the researchers examined the potential impact of a dark photon on the comprehensive set of experimental results obtained from deep inelastic scattering processes. Deep inelastic scattering is a particle physics process used to probe the internal structures of hadrons, such as protons and neutrons, using high-energy electrons, muons, and neutrinos.

The researchers utilized the advanced JAM parton distribution function global analysis framework, modifying the underlying theory to account for the possibility of a dark photon. Professor Thomas explained, “Our findings indicate that the dark photon hypothesis is favored over the Standard Model hypothesis with a significance of 6.5 sigma, constituting evidence for a particle discovery.”

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