In the US, Dartmouth College researchers have proposed a novel theory regarding dark matter, suggesting it originated from massless particles shortly after the Big Bang. This challenges the conventional understanding of dark matter as cold, slow-moving clumps.
Physicists Guanming Liang and Robert Caldwell theorize that in the early universe, high-energy massless particles collided and cooled, gaining the mass necessary to account for the universe's unseen gravity. This transformation from light-like particles to massive clumps occurred through a process similar to Cooper pair formation in superconductors.
The model suggests that imbalances among high-energy Dirac fermions led to the conversion of energy into mass, effectively 'freezing' them into dark matter. This theory could be tested by analyzing the cosmic microwave background for specific signatures left by this transformation.
If confirmed, this theory would provide a new perspective on the origin of dark matter and the evolution of the early universe. It also offers a potentially testable hypothesis using existing cosmological data, marking a significant step toward understanding this elusive component of the universe.