Large Hadron Collider Could Detect "Unparticles"
Written by Ian O'Neill
Understanding the mysterious dark matter in our universe is paramount to cosmologists. Dark matter and dark energy makes up the vast majority of mass in the observable universe. It influences galaxy rotation, galactic clusters and even holds the answer to our universe's fate. So, it is unsurprising to hear about some outlandish physics behind the possible structure of this concealed mass. A Harvard scientist has now stepped up the plate, publishing his understanding about dark matter, believing the answer may lie in a type of material that has a mass, but doesn't behave like a particle. "Unparticles" may also be detected by the high energy particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Detector (LHD) at CERNÂ going online in a few weeks time. High energy physics is about to get stranger than it already is…
Dark matter is theorized to take on many forms, including: neutron stars, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), neutrinos, black holes and massive compact halo objects (MACHOs). It is hard, however, to understand where the majority of mass comes from if you can't observe it, so much of what we "know" about this dark source of matter and energy will remain theory until we can actually find a way of observing it. Now, we have a chance, not only to observe a form of dark matter, but also to generate it.
Professor Howard Georgi, a Harvard University physicist, wants to share his idea that the "missing mass" of the universe may be held in a type of matter that cannot be explained by the current understanding of physics. The revelation came to him when he was researching what can be expected from the future results of LHC experiments. Beginning with quantum mechanics (as one would expect), he focused on the interactions between sub-atomic particles. Using the "Standard Model", which describes everything we know and understand about matter in our universe (interactions, symmetry, leptons, bosons etc.), Georgi soon came to a dead end. He then side stepped a basic premise of the standard model: the forces that govern particle interactions act differently at different length scales.
"I did think I was crazy," Prof. Georgi on the moment he stumbled on the "unparticle theory".
This is one of the major failings of the standard model – the unification of the four universal forces: weak force, strong force, electromagnetic force and gravitational force. The standard model unites the first three, but neglects gravity. Gravity simply does not fit. So Georgi took the bold step and calculated what could be generated by the LHC without the help of standard sub-atomic thinking and scale length restrictions.
The unparticle would therefore be "scale invariant", a property of fractals. Unparticles can interact over any scale lengths without restriction. When viewed, the unparticle will act as a fractal and will look similar over any scale (a characteristic known as self-similarity). Unparticles will also take on any mass, some or all the mass, depending on the scale you are viewing at. Now the implication of mass suddenly becomes interesting to the dark matter hunters out there. Unparticles could be a huge source of dark matter.
As they have mass, unparticles would also possess an "ungravity". Ungravity should have a strong, short-distance effect on matter in the observable world, and so, may be observed by sufficiently sensitive gravity probes.
Whether unparticles exist or not, exploring the possibility that standard thinking may need to be slightly re-jigged for the extreme world of high energy particle collisions will surely lead to some healthy scientific debate. For now, we wait in anticipation for when the LHC goes online in May this year.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Filed under: Dark Energy, Dark Matter
Comment policy: Be nice and brief. Don't advertise your stuff, or promote your personal theories. We'll delete any comments that break these policies. Click here for more details.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Considering that LIGO was flooded with ungravitons today, I'd say it's definitely possible.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I'm curious, how do you measure an ungraviton? Sounds fun
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Detecting ungravitons begins here:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=24501
January 24th, 2008 at 12:40 am
I remember many years ago when the soft drink 7up had an ad campaign in which it was the "Uncola".
However, that has since disappeared.
Spooky!
January 24th, 2008 at 5:03 am
Quantum UnMechanics????
January 24th, 2008 at 5:51 am
IT is only logical that every thing in the universe would have a counter part,Matter – antimatter, Black holes- white holes, but I never thought about the possibility of Ungravity. How does it work again?
January 24th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Unquestionably, it is like your unbirthday. Except for one day of the year, it is always present. Like air, it is taken utterly for granted until it is no longer there.
January 24th, 2008 at 6:23 am
We see plenty of things that are probably black holes. Are there any candidate white holes? I don't recall any.
January 24th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Distinguished Colleague, your article is about an gamma ray burst that was not detected by LIGO last year. There is not a signle mention of ungravitons, or even unparticles. Also I repeat that it was last year this happend, not the day you made that comment.
Not only that, but thisarticle explains that the effect would be a strong, shortlived reading independent of distance while that article says that absolutely nothing was observed.
The only somparison between the two articles is that ungravity and this odd gamma ray burst may have been measured on a more sensitive apparatus, but that is far from saying they are in any way related.
January 24th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Let's burn Distinguished Colleague at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Science. Joke or not… and despite the fact that he had nothing to do with the article… he deserves the most severe penalty possible–DEATH!
We must work together to ensure that science in general and Universe Today are as boring as possible and completely bereft of humor.
Thank you, More Distinguished. You wilt be nominated for Bishop of the Cathedral.
January 24th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Perhaps finding this undetecable unforce will be hailed as the most unfortunate of discoveries. One hopes the code will be broken and the resilts left unclassified.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Undoubtedly. I believe all the comments supporting unparticle research will, heretofore, remain undisputed.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
It's unbelievable. Regular Standard Model particles, coated with Unguentine, turn into unparticles. You coat the bottom of your flying saucer with them…and voila!..ungravity. Silent, uninertial …(right angle turns at high velocity)…and away you go to Area 51. This stuff also accelerates to superluminal velocity with no loss of energy…similar to the inflationary period of the early universe. And….the best part, it "knows" when to stop traveling superluminally to just fit the cosmological model that latest in vogue. What more could we ask for? free beer?…pretzels to go with the beer?…wenches to serve it all up?…..unbelievable. pete
January 24th, 2008 at 11:56 am
The Unparticle looks strangely like the parasite called Giardia Lamblia. But definitely more fascinating, as one wise Vulcan might say……
January 24th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Particles are just combinations of subatomic structures. The structures are simply dynamic electric and magnetic field interactions. Therefore, the unparticle is just a dynamic electric/magnetic field interaction and is capable of being detected and measured.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Undoubtedly our undoing.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
unTesting
January 26th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
i am unsure regarding the outcome of an unparticle being untested during dangerous unelectric storms. Using unstandard model data only, ungravity can be factored in with the other forces because of the unrenormalized results of Schroedinger's experiments with unentangled cats.
(Unentangled cats do not produce offspring.)
January 29th, 2008 at 6:58 am
For more information about the scale-invariance of fractals see article:
http://www.fractal.org/fractalary/fractalary.htm
February 10th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I am wondering about the interaction between spin-2 unparticles and electrons.
My speculation is that we will see the amplification of the 5-d / 3-d codimension-2 germ of the Kaluza-Klein graviton tower.
What will the interaction spin-2 UN and a molecular sized electronic cloud bring? In the brief instance before the molecule is broken up, will a correctly shaped configuration of electrons serve to unfold the hyperdimensional singularity?
I have also considered multiway interactions such as the three-scale molecular, unparticle, and preon components.
And thus we may open up the fifth dimension.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
[...] online in a few weeks time. High energy physics is about to get stranger than it already is… [more] Posted: January 23rd, 2008 under Dark Matter, Universe Today. Comments: [...]
February 11th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
"Unparticals" is that like an Uncola? Oh how I long for the good old days when people called "physicists" actually did some work in a lab. Anyway, at least fairy tale mathematics are entertaining…
February 11th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
UNPHYSICS!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:04 am
I do not want to wake up one day to fond that I am an un-me.
April 5th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I don’t know where to start, but I need to start somewhere, thus would you take the time to read this? My name is Steven Turner, and I am a physicist in my own right. I started writing about psychology when I was thirteen years old and continued until I was twenty-two. I had not had a teacher of this, so I did all my examinations alone. When I was about twenty-three, my mind began changing focus towards the way our universe works. Again having no teacher, I had to figure it out alone. I wanted to determine how our atom works. I began testing personal theories about simple mathematical codes that the universe could use. Instead of trying to actually see what was going on in an atom, I tried to establish the only possible code that an atom could operate with. This seemed easier for I had no access to a collider, which I had no idea even existed at the time. I spent roughly three years figuring out a code that worked easily, simply, and well. Once I got this done, I signed up for a few classes at a college in order to slightly test my theories. I took a simple algebra class and a psychology class. I tried to show the math teacher some of my work, but not only did he seem to look at me as lesser than him, but he also seemed completely uninterested with my years of work. I suppose I really cant expect more from a teacher that’s just wants to teach his class, and pass no judgment, but I attained multitudes of universal information during attendance of the class. During my psychology class, it was as if I were at home, seeing things I had never noticed before. Within a few classes I noticed that the makeup of the mind was tightly comparable to the composure of the atom. I began connecting the known knowledge of psychology, with my theories of what I now call atomics, or universal mathematics. Soon I had begun creating something I would like to introduce to the world of science, as ((Psychological Atomics)). I believe I can explain how our minds follow the exact nature of atomic signatures, signals, transfers, disturbances, equations, and much more. I may not be a professional in the eyes of acknowledged world scientists, but I do have a great deal of heart for this. I believe that the universe is so simple that it may be easy to decipher its mechanisms by comparing everything we see around us. Mathematics is universal and associates with every natural world existence. Instead of just breaking the atom down I went straight for what I like to call the ((Bottom)). After briefly reading into some reports, I found that many call the bottom, the ((God particle)). I am trying to crack the atom code in a mobile home, within a small town of Arizona. I CAN DO IT!! All I need is a little time with professionals that I don’t know how to get in touch with. I have put atomics into algebraic and geometric formats and although I don’t have this code complete, I think I am closer than I should be. I can easily explain why light travels faster than sound, and why we don’t age while traveling at the speed of light. Time measurement is easy to define and calculate with this theory. I can make it complex enough to evade many, or easy enough for a grade school student to understand. I have over five hundred pages of journalism and diagrams to share with the scientific world, and whether or not it can ever be taken seriously, I would like to share it with someone. I am also timid to share it, in possibility that it will be stolen, but we all deserve and share the same knowledge together do we not? It doesn’t matter who figures these things out, it only matters that we do. I believe that I have a good idea of what happened seven steps before the Big Bang.
Thank you,
Your fellow physicist