Posted on Jan 9, 2019
The Big Bang didn’t just result in our familiar universe, according to a bold new theory presented by physicist Neil Turok and colleagues at the Perimeter Institute- it also created a second “anti-universe” that extended backwards in time, in a mirror image of our own that could explain the existence of dark matter.
The new theory, called CPT symmetry, is argued in a recent paper in the journal Physical Review of Letters: in the anti-universe before the Big Bang time ran backwards and was dominated by antimatter instead of matter, reports Physics World.
“Beyond Comprehension” –‘The Observable Universe Is Only a Tiny Fraction of the Aftermath of the Big Bang’
Turok and his Perimeter Institute colleague Latham Boyle set out to develop a model of the universe that can explain all observable phenomena based only on the known particles and fields –such as the Higgs and Quantum Gravity fields–and not non-baryonic dark matter based on discovering currently hypothetical particles such as axions, sterile neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), gravitationally-interacting massive particles (GIMPs), or supersymmetric particles.
“Smoking Gun” –Points to Existence of Dark-Matter Particle
Their big idea was to question whether there is a natural way to extend the universe beyond the Big Bang – a singularity where general relativity breaks down – and then out the other side in the “anti-matter” universe. “We found that there was,” Turok says.
CERN: “Confirms the Fundamental Symmetry of the Universe”
The strength of the new theory is that it relies only on known particles and fields, instead of magical thinking that assumes that a new dark matter particle will be discovered in the future.
“There is this frame of mind that you explain a new phenomenon by inventing a new particle or field,” he told Physics World. “I think that may turn out to be misguided.”
Read more
The Daily Galaxy via Physics World and Physical Review of Letters
In the image at the top of the page black holes were ruled out as universe’s missing dark matter this past September. A supernova (bright spot at lower left) and its host galaxy (upper center), as they would appear if gravitationally lensed by an intervening black hole (center). The gravitational field of the black hole distorts and magnifies the image and makes both the galaxy and the supernova shine brighter. Gravitationally magnified supernovas would occur rather frequently if black holes were the dominant form of matter in the universe. The lack of such findings can be used to set limits on the mass and abundance of black holes. (Miguel Zumalacárregui, UC Berkeley)