Science & Tech

Scientists think there’s a hidden universe created by ‘dark big bang’

Scientists think there’s a hidden universe created by ‘dark big bang’
Webb space telescope discovers distant galaxies in early universe
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Scientists have claimed a new dark matter theory could explain the existence of a hidden universe.

'Dark matter' is an invisible substance that makes up for five-sixths of the universe, according to Gizmodo. Until now, scientists assumed it was created during the Big Bang – but have theorised it could have very well followed days after the universe began.

In their new Dark Big Bang theory, UT Austin physicists Katherine Freese and Martin Winkler have claimed there "are two big bangs."

"The Hot Big Bang, as in the standard picture, creates the hot plasma of visible matter and radiation," they said. Whereas, the dark matter was created in a later, ‘darker’ Big Bang.

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"We found that dark matter formation could have occurred as long as one month after which is almost an eternity by cosmological standards," Winkler said.

Most theories have suggested that dark matter was created during the Big Bang – claims that Winkler and Freese have begun to question.

"It is often forgotten that we have zero evidence for dark matter before the times relevant for structure formation," Winkler said. "Indeed, we found that dark matter formation could have occurred as long as one month after," he said, "which is almost an eternity by cosmological standards."

It comes at a point where scientists’ search for dark matter is nearing a breaking point. They have built underground detectors in an attempt to catch particles as they sail through the Earth – but they seem to leave no mark.

"Once we allow for the idea of purely gravitationally-coupled dark matter, the Dark Big Bang is perhaps the most plausible production mechanism for the dark matter," Winkler said. "And the good news from our article is that even if dark matter only couples gravitationally, there are still great chances to test such a scenario."

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