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Higgs boson may be secret to dark matter

His theory is being taken so seriously by other scientists that the CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland will soon be used to test its validity.

If proven correct Dr Petersson’s ideas would challenge the so-called Standard Model of physics, which physicists use to explain the world around us.

In particular, it changes the nature of the Higgs boson, which is often referred to as the “God particle,” because it is believed to be the force that gives all matter its mass and is thereby responsible for the universe as we know it.

The discovery of the Higgs boson by the LHC in 2012 was considered to be the final missing piece in the Standard Model, which describes the world of subatomic particles.

However, the Standard Model has never been able to to identify or explain the source of dark matter. This is important because scientists have theorized that if the Higgs boson gives all matter in the universe its mass, dark matter must be the force which holds it all together.

Just like the Higgs boson, without it the universe would not exist. However, dark matter has never been seen and nobody has been able to prove its existence.

As Discovery News puts it,

“It’s out there, we’re certain of it, but we just can’t see it and therefore cannot fully understand its nature.”

This is where the revolutionary nature of Dr Petersson’s ideas come into play. What he is suggesting is that the Higgs boson and dark matter are inextricably interlinked in a way not thought of before.

Phys org says that the difference in his model is that 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.”

What is unique in his theory, is that he believes the Higgs boson can disintegrate into dark matter and photons (particles of light.)

The logic behind this comes from what is called supersymmetry.

Discovery News explains:

“Supersymmetry predicts that there are more massive “super partners” of known particles that exist beyond the Standard Model framework. Although there have been tantalizing hints of these supersymmetric particles, definitive observational evidence has been frustratingly hard to track down.”

The MailOnline reports that the volume of data in the first studies of Petersson’s theory was insufficient to confirm or reject his model.

With regard to his theory, the Mail quotes Dr Zeynap Demiragli at the CMS experiment at Cern, who said,

“We congratulate Christoffer Petersson for having done an important job.”

“‘We are already in full swing with new analyses in which we are testing his model in other ways and with more data.”

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN
CERN

The LHC has been undergoing upgrades and will be fully operational again in Spring. Then it will be able to carry out particle collisions at new record energies.

Phys org explained that,

“With higher energies in the accelerator, the experiments will finally gather sufficient data to evaluate Petersson’s model properly. He is on tenterhooks awaiting the results.”

Petersson said,

““It’s a dream for a theorist in particle physics. LHC is the only place where the model can be tested. It’s even nicer that two independent experiments are going to do it.”

“If the model is found to fit,” he continued, “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.”

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