In a groundbreaking study, physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have proposed a novel method for detecting dark matter by tracking the wobble of Mars’ orbit. By observing changes in Mars’ orbital path over time, researchers believe they may uncover the elusive dark matter that permeates the universe. This discovery could significantly advance our understanding of dark matter and its origins.
MIT physicists suggest that the original black holes formed after the Big Bang may constitute a significant portion of the universe’s dark matter. These black holes could be detected by their influence on Mars’ orbit, thanks to today’s precise distance measurements. This finding could greatly advance our understanding of dark matter and its origins.
The illustration depicts an original black hole (left) passing by and briefly wobbling Mars’ orbit (right), with the sun in the background. MIT scientists say that this wobble can be detected by current instruments. Image source: Benjamin Lehmann using SpaceEngine @ Cosmographic Software LLC.
In a new study, MIT physicists propose that if most of the dark matter in the universe is composed of tiny primordial black holes – an idea first proposed in the 1970s – then these gravitational dwarfs should pass through our solar system at least every ten years. Researchers predict that these flybys would cause wobbles in Mars’ orbit, detectable with today’s technology.
Such detection results could support the view that primordial black holes are the main source of dark matter in the universe.
David Kaiser, the author of the research report and a professor of physics and the history of science at MIT, said: After decades of precise remote sensing, scientists have an understanding of the distance between Earth and Mars that is accurate to about 10 centimeters. We are using this highly instrumented space region to try to find small influences. If we see them, we have a reason to continue pursuing the delightful idea that all dark matter is made up of black holes, which were formed in less than a second after the Big Bang and have flowed through the universe for 14 billion years.
Kaiser and his colleagues reported their findings in the journal Physical Review D on September 17. The co-authors include the first author, 24-year-old Tung Tran, now a graduate student at Stanford University; 12-year-old Sarah Geller, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz; 17-year-old SM, now a PhD; and Benjamin Lehmann, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT.
Less than 20% of all physical matter, from stars and planets to kitchen sinks, consists of visible matter. The rest is made up of dark matter, a hypothetical form of matter that is invisible across the entire electromagnetic spectrum but is believed to be scattered throughout the universe, influencing the motion of stars and galaxies.
Physicists have set up detectors on Earth to try to detect dark matter and determine its properties. In most cases, these experiments assume that dark matter exists in the form of a strange particle that may scatter and decay into observable particles when it passes through a specific experiment. However, searches based on particles have thus far been fruitless.
In recent years, another possibility first proposed in the 1970s has once again received attention: Dark matter is not made up of particles but rather in the form of microscopic primordial black holes, which were formed in the initial moments of the Big Bang. Unlike astrophysical black holes formed by the collapse of old stars, primordial black holes are formed by dense gas clumps in the early universe and spread throughout the universe as the universe expands and cools.
These primordial black holes collapse a large amount of mass into a very small space. Most of these primordial black holes may be as small as an atom but as heavy as the largest asteroid. Imagine that such tiny giants might exert a gravitational force that can at least explain part of the dark matter. For MIT’s research team, this possibility raised an initially boring question.
I remember someone asking me what would happen if a primordial black hole passed through the human body, Tung recalls. He quickly calculated with paper and pen and found that if such a black hole passes within 1 meter of a person, the force of the black hole will push the person 6 meters away in one second, which is about 20 feet. He also found that the probability of a primordial black hole passing near a person from any place on Earth is extremely small.
The researchers were intrigued and further developed Tung’s calculations to estimate the impact of the black hole flyby on larger bodies such as Earth and the Moon.
Tung said: We made inferences to see what would happen if a black hole passes by Earth, causing the moon to sway. We got some numbers that were not very clear. There are many other dynamic factors in the solar system that may act as some friction, causing the swing to weaken.
To better understand the situation, the research team
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