LHC Could Unravel Dark Matter-Higgs Boson Link Later This Year
When Large Hadron Collider (LHC) resumes functioning later this year, it could unravel mysteries of dark matter.
According to IB Times, the collider, which was closed for two years after its discovery of the Higgs Boson, would now be testing a theory that hypothesizes Higgs Boson decaying into dark matter which makes up most of the universe. The theory invokes supersymmetry which rules that for every particle a more massive partner exists.
The model LHC team will test was mooted by Christoffer Petersson of Chalmers University, Sweden. The theory predicts that the 'God Particle' Higgs Boson which is believed to lend mass to all other particles, will decay in to a photon and a pair of gravitinos, according to Forbes.
Supersymmetry is being invoked as the Standard Model's last piece of puzzle, the Higgs Boson, is not sufficient to explain phenomenon like inter-galactic forces that causes them to drift apart.
Researchers at LHC are hoping some findings later would help understand the shortcomings of the Standard Model. Petersson meanwhile is excited that his model is being tested.
"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," he said in a news release.
Petersson's hypothesis could not be tested during LHC's previous operations. This time around, sufficient is expected to be produced to test it.
"But we are already in full swing with new analyses in which we are testing his model in other ways and with more data," said Zeynap Demiragli, at CERN.
