You’ve heard of dark matter, right? It’s that mysterious substance that most physicists think fills up most of the universe. But here’s the weird part: we can’t see it or detect it directly, except for how it affects the way things move because of its gravity.
There are lots of wild ideas about what dark matter could be. Some say it might be hiding in another dimension, others think it came from a second big bang, and there are even theories that suggest it’s made of information or that it’s just not real.
Recently, a new paper, noticed by astrophysicist Paul Sutter, suggests a different idea: dark matter might actually be in a strange mirrored universe inside our own, where atoms didn’t form.
As Sutter explains, this research is based on two interesting coincidences. First, observations show that there’s about the same amount of regular and dark matter in the universe, with dark matter slightly outweighing regular matter. Second, neutrons and protons have nearly the same mass, which allows them to form stable atoms. This is important because without stable atoms, things like stars, planets, and life wouldn’t exist in our universe.
The theory suggests that there might be a shadow universe alongside our own where neutrons and protons don’t have the same mass, resulting in a mix of subatomic particles that don’t interact much. This could explain why dark matter doesn’t clump together much.
It’s important to note that this paper hasn’t been reviewed by other scientists yet, and it’s just one of many theories trying to understand dark matter. However, it has a notable group of authors from institutions like Fermilab and the University of Chicago, so it’s worth keeping an eye on to see how the physics community responds.
