{"id":361318,"date":"2025-11-07T03:50:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T03:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/361318\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T03:50:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T03:50:24","slug":"could-dark-matter-be-under-the-influence-of-a-mysterious-fifth-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/361318\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Dark Matter Be Under the Influence of a Mysterious \u201cFifth Force\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New research is bringing fresh insights to one of cosmology\u2019s<\/a> most enduring mysteries: the question of whether dark matter<\/a> behaves like ordinary matter.<\/p>\n

The findings, presented by\u00a0University of Geneva<\/a> (UNIGE) researchers, appeared\u00a0in a recent paper in Nature Communications, where they report that hypothetical dark matter falls into gravitational wells just like ordinary matter, based on current observations. Still, the authors caution that an unexpected interaction or previously unknown force may yet be revealed with future, more precise data.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, the study suggests that on the largest scales observable today, dark matter appears to follow the same physical laws as regular matter, while leaving open the possibility of subtle, undiscovered forces at play.<\/p>\n

Dark Matter<\/p>\n

Due to the fact that dark matter neither emits nor reflects light, it remains invisible and has never been directly detected. Scientists infer its existence because it fills massive gaps in our understanding of gravity and galactic structure\u2014its effects are observed, but not the substance itself.<\/p>\n

However, one of the greatest remaining questions about dark matter is whether it follows the same laws as ordinary matter.<\/p>\n

Four well-known forces interact with traditional matter: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. Presently, it remains uncertain whether dark matter responds to these forces the same way, and some theories even propose a fifth, undiscovered force acting only on dark matter.<\/p>\n

Gravity Wells<\/p>\n

At the center of the team\u2019s research was the cosmic phenomena known as gravity wells. When extremely massive objects occupy space, they bend that space around them, creating these gravitational phenomena. Current physics, from Einstein\u2019s general relativity to Euler\u2019s equations, accurately predicts how visible matter behaves in these wells. But does dark matter follow the same rules?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo answer this question, we compared the velocities of galaxies across the Universe with the depth of gravitational wells,\u201d explained co-author Camille Bonvin<\/a>, associate professor in the Department of Theoretical Physics at UNIGE\u2019s Faculty of Science. \u201cIf dark matter is not subject to a fifth force, then galaxies \u2014 which are mostly made of dark matter \u2014 will fall into these wells like ordinary matter, governed solely by gravity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, if a fifth force acts on dark matter, it will influence the motion of galaxies, which would then fall into the wells differently,\u201d Bonvin said. \u201cBy comparing the depth of the wells with the galaxies\u2019 velocities, we can therefore test for the presence of such a force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dark Matter Behavior<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s analysis of real-world cosmological data shows that dark matter appears to fall into gravitational wells in line with Euler\u2019s equations, behaving just like ordinary matter. However, small deviations remain possible.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt this stage, however, these conclusions do not yet rule out the presence of an unknown force,\u201d said lead author Nastassia Grimm, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Theoretical Physics at UNIGE\u2019s Faculty of Science. \u201cBut if such a fifth force exists, it cannot exceed 7% of the strength of gravity \u2014 otherwise it would already have appeared in our analyses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future measurements, including upcoming data from the LSST and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), will allow researchers to detect forces as weak as 2% of gravity\u2019s strength. Those high-precision surveys may finally confirm whether dark matter truly follows the same laws as normal matter\u2014or whether a faint but fundamental new force shapes the universe.<\/p>\n

The paper, \u201cDoes Dark Matter Fall in the Same Way as Standard Model Particles? A Direct Constraint of Euler\u2019s Equation with Cosmological Data<\/a>,\u201d will appear in Nature Communications on November 7, 2025.<\/p>\n

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at\u00a0<\/b>ryan@thedebrief.org<\/b><\/a>, and follow him on Twitter <\/b>@mdntwvlf<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New research is bringing fresh insights to one of cosmology\u2019s most enduring mysteries: the question of whether dark…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":361319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[21744,175426,175427,492,159,67,132,175428,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-361318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-dark-matter","9":"tag-einsteins-general-relativity","10":"tag-eulers-equations","11":"tag-physics","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-university-of-geneva","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115506382768529278","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}