27 votes

Scientists at the University of Oxford unifying dark matter and dark energy into a single phenomenon: a fluid which possesses 'negative mass"

10 comments

  1. [3]
    Wulfsta
    Link
    Oh shit, faster than light travel here we come.

    Oh shit, faster than light travel here we come.

    8 votes
    1. Amarok
      Link Parent
      If we can figure out a way to interact with and control this negative matter, that possibility is in the cards. The problem is, it doesn't interact with anything except for gravity, as far as we...

      If we can figure out a way to interact with and control this negative matter, that possibility is in the cards. The problem is, it doesn't interact with anything except for gravity, as far as we can tell, and we rather suck at gravity. :P

      5 votes
    2. Neverland
      Link Parent
      That was exactly my first thought!

      That was exactly my first thought!

  2. [6]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. Archimedes
      Link Parent
      Negative mass doesn't seem all that weird. To me, the "out there" part is the "creation tensor" which represents negative mass constantly coming into existence.

      Negative mass doesn't seem all that weird. To me, the "out there" part is the "creation tensor" which represents negative mass constantly coming into existence.

      9 votes
    2. [3]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Paging @wanda-seldon, @ducks, @amarok, since AFAICT they seem to be the most well versed users in physics (although not necessarily astrophysics) on the site. Hopefully they don't mind the @...

      Paging @wanda-seldon, @ducks, @amarok, since AFAICT they seem to be the most well versed users in physics (although not necessarily astrophysics) on the site. Hopefully they don't mind the @ mentions.

      p.s. PDF Link to the paper - A unifying theory of dark energy and dark matter: Negative masses and matter creation within a modified LambdaCDM framework ... it keeps 502'ing out for me though. :(

      8 votes
      1. Amarok
        Link Parent
        The paper is up on Arxiv. That paper makes a couple fairly compelling arguments. If he's right, the antimatter experiments at CERN might not have the boring results we're expecting to see after all.

        The paper is up on Arxiv.

        That paper makes a couple fairly compelling arguments. If he's right, the antimatter experiments at CERN might not have the boring results we're expecting to see after all.

        6 votes
    3. Happy_Shredder
      Link Parent
      It's an interesting toy model. Certainly gives an elegant unification of dark matter and energy, while explaining some phenomena. It's quite a readable paper, and I like the interpretation of...

      It's an interesting toy model. Certainly gives an elegant unification of dark matter and energy, while explaining some phenomena. It's quite a readable paper, and I like the interpretation of rotation curves and cosmological structure. The interpretation of CMB is a bit thin to my first reading; I may have to sit with and think about it for a while.

      I think the big takeaways are that negative mass is weird (and has never been observed) but is ok. But matter creation is a big step. Very hard to justify. The model could be a useful reinterpretation and pedagogical tool.

      Oh, and the maths looks good, but I havent checked the code.

      (I'm in condensed matter atm but have studied cosmo&GR)

      5 votes
  3. [2]
    Archimedes
    Link
    I'm not sure I understand how the dark matter halo works with this. The author says here, How can galaxies attract negative mass if that mass is also has a repulsive force? Does negative mass...

    I'm not sure I understand how the dark matter halo works with this. The author says here,

    My model shows that the surrounding repulsive force from dark fluid can also hold a galaxy together. The gravity from the positive mass galaxy attracts negative masses from all directions, and as the negative mass fluid comes nearer to the galaxy it in turn exerts a stronger repulsive force onto the galaxy that allows it to spin at higher speeds without flying apart.

    How can galaxies attract negative mass if that mass is also has a repulsive force? Does negative mass attract or repel positive mass?

    5 votes
    1. Amarok
      Link Parent
      Gravity pulls it all together, but negative mass repels other negative mass, so as the negative mass fluid builds up, it also forces itself to spread out into a large halo around the galaxy, one...

      Gravity pulls it all together, but negative mass repels other negative mass, so as the negative mass fluid builds up, it also forces itself to spread out into a large halo around the galaxy, one with a radius many times larger than the galaxy itself.

      9 votes