Gravitational Waves May Have Created Dark Matter in Early Universe

Gravitational waves may have played a key role in creating dark matter during the universe's earliest moments. This is according to new research from Professor Joachim Kopp of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Dr. Azadeh Maleknejad from Swansea University. Their study suggests that faint, ancient gravitational waves could have transformed into particles that later became dark matter.

This research addresses a major question in particle physics. Visible matter, which includes planets, stars, and life, makes up only about four percent of the universe. Dark matter accounts for roughly 23 percent of the universe. Dark energy comprises the remainder.

Observations show that dark matter is distributed throughout space. It influences the formation of galaxies and large cosmic structures. Despite its significant impact, the composition of dark matter remains unknown. Scientists are conducting numerous experiments and developing theories to understand its nature.

Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime. They are produced by energetic cosmic events, such as black hole collisions. Stochastic gravitational waves are a different type. They arise from processes not involving massive objects. These waves are weaker and form part of the background signal in the universe.

Many stochastic gravitational waves are extremely old. They date back to the early phases after the Big Bang. They may have been generated during cosmic events like phase transitions as the universe cooled. They could also have originated from primordial magnetic fields. The study proposes that these early gravitational waves could have produced fermions. Fermions are a broad class of particles, including electrons, protons, and neutrons. These early fermions may have later gained mass and evolved into the dark matter particles observed today.

The next steps for this theory involve numerical calculations to improve prediction accuracy. Researchers also plan to investigate other possible effects of gravitational waves in the early universe. This includes mechanisms that could explain the difference between particles and antiparticles.