Swedish researcher may discover clues about dark matter

A researcher at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden says he has found a way to explain the dark matter of the universe and his theories are now being tested at the particle physics laboratory CERN.

The "Standard Model" of particle physics that was developed in the 1970s successfully describes the smallest constituents of matter, but the model has limitations since it does not explain the dark matter of the universe, Chalmers explained in a statement.

Christoffer Petersson, a research scientist at the university, has, together with two research colleagues, proposed a particle model based on what is known as supersymmetry. It contains more elementary particles than the Standard Model, including dark matter particles.

In addition, the model gives the Higgs particle different properties than the Standard Model predicts. The model proposes that the Higgs particle can disintegrate into a photon (a particle of light) and particles of dark matter.

However, these properties are quite difficult to discover, you have to look for them specifically to have a chance of finding them.

Now, two independent experimental stations, Atlas and CMS, at the Large Hadron Collider are looking for the very properties of the Higgs particle that Petersson's model predicts. If the properties are there, it is a clear indication that the model fits.

"If the model is found to fit, it would completely change our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of nature. If not, just the fact that they are willing to test my model at CERN is great," Petersson says. Endit