New Cosmological Model Proposes Dark Matter Production During Pre-Big Bang Inflation (phys.org) 21
To explain the origins of dark market, a new model of the universe has been proposed by researchers, reports Phys.org.
"Their idea is that dark matter would be produced during a infinitesimally short inflationary phase when the size of the universe quickly expanded exponentially..." Although inflation is mostly accepted by cosmologists as part of the Big Bang picture based on some evidence (though there is meaningful dissent), the driver of inflation is still unknown... [T]o-date research has not considered the possibility that a significant [amount] of dark matter could be produced during the inflationary expansion and not be diluted away. In the paper's WIFI model — Warm Inflation via ultraviolet Freeze-In — dark matter is created through small and rare interactions with particles in a hot, energetic environment. It contains a new mechanism where this production occurs just before the Big Bang, during cosmic inflation, leading to dark matter being formed much earlier than in existing theories...
"The thing that's unique to our model is that dark matter is successfully produced during inflation," said Katherine Freese, Director of the Weinberg Institute of Theoretical Physics and the Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics at The University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the paper. "In most [other] models, anything that is created during inflation is then 'inflated away' by the exponential expansion of the universe, to the point where there is essentially nothing left." In this new mechanism, all the dark matter that we observe today could have been created during that brief, pre-Big Bang period of inflation. The quantum field driving inflation, the inflation, loses some of its energy to radiation, and this radiation, in turn, produces dark matter particles via the freeze-in mechanism....
The WIFI [Warm Inflation via ultraviolet Freeze-In] model cannot yet be confirmed by observations. But a key part of the scenario, warm inflation, will be tested over the next decade by the so-called cosmic microwave background experiments. Confirming warm inflation would be a significant step for the WIFI model's dark matter production scenario.
"What was before inflation? Physicists have no idea."
"Their idea is that dark matter would be produced during a infinitesimally short inflationary phase when the size of the universe quickly expanded exponentially..." Although inflation is mostly accepted by cosmologists as part of the Big Bang picture based on some evidence (though there is meaningful dissent), the driver of inflation is still unknown... [T]o-date research has not considered the possibility that a significant [amount] of dark matter could be produced during the inflationary expansion and not be diluted away. In the paper's WIFI model — Warm Inflation via ultraviolet Freeze-In — dark matter is created through small and rare interactions with particles in a hot, energetic environment. It contains a new mechanism where this production occurs just before the Big Bang, during cosmic inflation, leading to dark matter being formed much earlier than in existing theories...
"The thing that's unique to our model is that dark matter is successfully produced during inflation," said Katherine Freese, Director of the Weinberg Institute of Theoretical Physics and the Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics at The University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the paper. "In most [other] models, anything that is created during inflation is then 'inflated away' by the exponential expansion of the universe, to the point where there is essentially nothing left." In this new mechanism, all the dark matter that we observe today could have been created during that brief, pre-Big Bang period of inflation. The quantum field driving inflation, the inflation, loses some of its energy to radiation, and this radiation, in turn, produces dark matter particles via the freeze-in mechanism....
The WIFI [Warm Inflation via ultraviolet Freeze-In] model cannot yet be confirmed by observations. But a key part of the scenario, warm inflation, will be tested over the next decade by the so-called cosmic microwave background experiments. Confirming warm inflation would be a significant step for the WIFI model's dark matter production scenario.
"What was before inflation? Physicists have no idea."
Sheeshes (Score:2, Insightful)
Turtles all the way down is at least disprovable.
Religion just like string theory
Re:Sheeshes (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll take things that cannot be disproven therefore not science for 500, Bob!
What about things that cannot be disproven yet?
Re: (Score:1)
I'll take things that cannot be disproven therefore not science for 500, Bob!
What about things that cannot be disproven yet?
If we can prove that there was a pre-big bang, with inflation and dark matter created by UV freexe in, and did not distribute like everything else, and what exactly happened, that would be pretty cool and exciting.
FTS:The quantum field driving inflation, the inflation, loses some of its energy to radiation, and this radiation, in turn, produces dark matter particles via the freeze-in mechanism..." But even if this UV freeze-in happens, we still have to determine that it happened before the BB.
I'm re
Re:Sheeshes (Score:5, Informative)
Literally included in the summary
If they disprove warm inflation this theory fails. That's actual science.
Re:Sheeshes (Score:5, Informative)
Science is a process, every testable theory started as an idea that was not and a hypothesis not testable, or not yet testable, is not the same as "turtles all the way down".
You know, all that science is done by people, right? That's how ideas become testable. Your closed-mindedness is no different than the religious that you mock.
Re: Sheeshes (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
There's no way you can prove you're not a Boltzman brain that popped into existence a picosencond ago, hallucinated the universe and all of its history, and is about to either pop out of existence again or explode into the void.
Some assumptions are necessary.
And no, this didn't happen "before time existed!!" They're talking about pre-inflation. Time definitely existed. Inflation is generally referred to these days as "the big bang" because, if true, it was, but it's not the "big bang" you're probably thinki
Re: (Score:2)
Time definitely existed. Inflation is generally referred to these days as "the big bang" because, if true, it was, but it's not the "big bang" you're probably thinking of.
That big bang was with the chick I took to senior prom.
Re: (Score:2)
Dark matter itself is just a placeholder for unexplained gravity
Yes, dark matter is an unfortunate name, with most people believing it is matter.
Re: (Score:1)
Science is a process, every testable theory started as an idea that was not and a hypothesis not testable, or not yet testable, is not the same as "turtles all the way down".
Wut? Here's where you go off the rails. This is like the guy who comes into the discussion who demands that everyone prove everything all over again because they don't believe it.
If you or I have a hypothesis, we need to frame it. If it can be framed as a falsifiable idea, it can be tested. If itcannot be tested, it cannot be science.
If I say That I can prove that Ganesha exists, I need to come up with a way to show that. And just because Ganesha is the coolest god ever, and that many people believe i
Then again (Score:1)
Dark Market? (Score:5, Funny)
To explain the origins of dark market, a new model of the universe has been proposed by researchers, reports Phys.org.
Is the dark market the site on the dark web where you buy dark matter using cryptocurrency?
Re: (Score:2)
No, you use dark money.
Re: (Score:3)
No, you use dark money.
But due to all that pre-big bang inflation, it doesn't buy as much as it used to. It's probably the fault of some time travelling Ferengi.
'What was before inflation?' (Score:2)
Ask an economist: 'Overexpansion of the money supply'.
Obvious, really... ;)
A conjecture (Score:2)
These guys are just trying to imagine a physically explainable solution for the dark matter problem. The only question for me is 'is it an interesting one'.
"The quantum field driving inflation, the inflation, loses some of its energy to radiation, and this radiation, in turn, produces dark matter particles via the freeze-in mechanism"
Which is then described some in the phys.org article;
'dark matter was produced through its interaction with a thermal bath of some species, and its abundance is created by "fre
Maybe I'm misinterpreting things, but (Score:4, Informative)
It seems to me like they're using "Big Bang" in a somewhat unusual manner. I thought at first they were claiming that this dark matter production had somehow happened before the Big Bang Singularity, but they appear overall to be sticking to the accepted model of the earliest moments of the universe... and using "big bang" to only refer to that period of rapid expansion that occurred after inflation.
Re: (Score:2)
Since inflation became generally accepted, "big bang" usually refers to it. You're correct, it's not the same as the layman's "big bang" which is basically Lematire's 1930 "primeval atom" expanding into the universe. Lemaitre's simple version doesn't match observations.