A couple of new takes on dark matter showed up
this week. One is completely wrong and the other is exactly right in concept if
not in the model proposed to explain the concept.
In Physical Review Letters, a group of British
and Italian physicists has published their conclusion that dark energy is
increasing as it feeds off dark matter. As we saw here, dark energy is the
proliferation of spacetime points by self-reproduction. It drives inflation,
ultimately leaving spacetime in a state of coherent oscillation. The
oscillation energy is dark matter, some of which decays to form luminous
ordinary matter. So these scientists have it exactly backwards, Dark matter
comes from dark energy; it doesn’t decay to dark energy.
On the arXiv, P.Q. Hung and K.J. Ludwick have
come out with a model that has the inflaton (the
field that drives inflation, which we know is dark energy) decaying to dark
matter (correct), a proportion of which decays to luminous matter (correct).
Their mathematical analysis is based on something called the luminogenesis
model, which isn’t a very widely accepted model. I don’t understand the
mathematics, but it looks way too complicated to be correct. However, it’s
remarkable that they have the basic interaction right. Unfortunately, their
fellow physicists will probably ignore it.
