Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘cosmology’ category: Page 168

Mar 7, 2020

Physicists have narrowed the mass range for hypothetical dark matter axions

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

In two new studies, scientists search for axions within new mass ranges but the particles remain elusive.

Mar 6, 2020

Scientists think they’ve finally figured out dark matter

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

When astronomers gaze into space they can see many different things. Galaxies, stars, and even black holes can be spotted from our place here on Earth. However, one of the most abundant types of matter in the universe can’t actually be seen at all, or at least we’ve yet to invent the means to do so.

Dark matter may account for over three-quarters of all matter in the universe, but it can’t be observed directly. Instead, scientists have to infer its existence based on how other objects in the cosmos react to its gravity. But what is it, and will we ever be able to explain its origins? A new study by researchers at the University of York attempts to do just that, offering a potential explanation for what dark matter really is.

The researchers say that the secret of dark matter may rest in a type of particle called a d-star hexaquark. As SciTechDaily notes, it’s a particle made up of six quarks, which are the tiny bits that make up protons and neutrons, but because of their arrangement in a d-star, they are more versatile.

Mar 6, 2020

Did this newfound particle form the universe’s dark matter?

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

Researchers think that a newly identified subatomic particle may have formed the universe’s dark matter right after the Big Bang, approximately 13.8 billion years ago.

While scientists have determined that up to 80% of the matter in the universe could be dark matter, our understanding of what the mysterious substance might be is still lacking, as no one has ever directly observed it.

Mar 5, 2020

Gravity’s waterfall

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Physicists are using analog black holes to better understand gravity.

Mar 4, 2020

Can I Use This Experimental Wormhole to Escape the Election?

Posted by in category: cosmology

When a black hole is starting to look like an attractive option, things are real bad.

Mar 4, 2020

Scientists shed light on mystery of dark matter

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

Scientists have identified a sub-atomic particle that could have formed the “dark matter” in the Universe during the Big Bang.

Up to 80% of the Universe could be , but despite many decades of study, its physical origin has remained an enigma. While it cannot be seen directly, scientists know it exists because of its interaction via gravity with visible matter like stars and planets. Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect or emit light.

Now, nuclear physicists at the University of York are putting forward a new candidate for the mysterious matter—a particle they recently discovered called the d-star hexaquark.

Mar 4, 2020

NASA Science Mission Directorate

Posted by in categories: cosmology, science

What is dark energy? More is unknown than is known — we know how much there is, and we know some of its properties; other than that, dark energy is a mystery — but an important one. Roughly 70% of the Universe is made of dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 25%. The rest — everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter adds up to less than 5% of the Universe. Then again, maybe it shouldn’t be called “normal” matter since it is a small fraction of the Universe!

Mar 3, 2020

Astronomers: Something Is Warping Our Entire Galaxy

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Hmmm dark matter perhaps or a still unknown type of exterrestial physics. Much like bootes which in my expert opinion is an alien dimension maybe there are still Easter eggs hidden in the fabric of our universe that can take several lifetimes to understand even with advanced technology understanding may still be like scratching at the ceiling of infinity of understanding but may not be as difficult.


It’s a mystery that’s been puzzling astronomers for years.

Mar 2, 2020

Scientists Are Building a Quantum Teleporter Based on Black Holes

Posted by in categories: computing, cosmology, quantum physics

If it works, they would be able to input quantum information into one “black hole” circuit, which would scramble, then consume it. After a little while, that information would pop out of the second circuit, already unscrambled and decrypted. That sets it apart from existing quantum teleportation techniques, Quanta reports, as transmitted information emerges still fully scrambled and then needs to be decrypted, making the process take longer and be less accurate as an error-prone quantum computer tries to recreate the original message.

While the idea of entangled black holes and wormholes conjures sci-fi notions of intrepid explorers warping throughout the cosmos, that’s not quite what’s happening here.

Rather, it’s an evocative way to improve quantum computing technology. Recreating and entangling the bizarre properties of black holes, University of California, Berkely researcher Norman Yao told Quanta, would “allow teleportation on the fastest possible timescale.”

Mar 2, 2020

The idea of creating a new universe in the lab is no joke

Posted by in category: cosmology

Physicists aren’t often reprimanded for using risqué humour in their academic writings, but in 1991 that is exactly what happened to the cosmologist Andrei Linde at Stanford University. He had submitted a draft article entitled ‘Hard Art of the Universe Creation’ to the journal Nuclear Physics B. In it, he outlined the possibility of creating a universe in a laboratory: a whole new cosmos that might one day evolve its own stars, planets and intelligent life. Near the end, Linde made a seemingly flippant suggestion that our Universe itself might have been knocked together by an alien ‘physicist hacker’. The paper’s referees objected to this ‘dirty joke’; religious people might be offended that scientists were aiming to steal the feat of universe-making out of the hands of God, they worried. Linde changed the paper’s title and abstract but held firm over the line that our Universe could have been made by an alien scientist. ‘I am not so sure that this is just a joke,’ he told me.

Fast-forward a quarter of a century, and the notion of universe-making – or ‘cosmogenesis’ as I dub it – seems less comical than ever. I’ve travelled the world talking to physicists who take the concept seriously, and who have even sketched out rough blueprints for how humanity might one day achieve it. Linde’s referees might have been right to be concerned, but they were asking the wrong questions. The issue is not who might be offended by cosmogenesis, but what would happen if it were truly possible. How would we handle the theological implications? What moral responsibilities would come with fallible humans taking on the role of cosmic creators?

Theoretical physicists have grappled for years with related questions as part of their considerations of how our own Universe began. In the 1980s, the cosmologist Alex Vilenkin at Tufts University in Massachusetts came up with a mechanism through which the laws of quantum mechanics could have generated an inflating universe from a state in which there was no time, no space and no matter. There’s an established principle in quantum theory that pairs of particles can spontaneously, momentarily pop out of empty space. Vilenkin took this notion a step further, arguing that quantum rules could also enable a minuscule bubble of space itself to burst into being from nothing, with the impetus to then inflate to astronomical scales. Our cosmos could thus have been burped into being by the laws of physics alone. To Vilenkin, this result put an end to the question of what came before the Big Bang: nothing.