Because 85% of the matter in the universe simply does not appear before us. And why do galaxies spin too fast for gravity to explain? The answer could be in an invisible force, a fifth force of nature that would be acting together with gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces, and now a team of scientists in Switzerland is using an ion trap technique to try to detect it.
Instead of hunting exotic particles with giant colliders like the LHC, physicists at ETH Zyrique decided to look inside the atom using precision spectroscopy, trapping calcium isotopes in electromagnetic fields, a technique called ion trapping, and holding them virtually still to measure the smallest possible energy fluctuations with lasers.
The theory is simple but impactful. If a fifth force exists, it should slightly alter the energy of the electrons as the number of neutrons changes from one isotope to another, so by comparing almost identical isotopes it is possible to see if something extra, beyond known physics, is subtly pulling on the electrons.
The results were so precise that they reached a margin of error of just 100 milli Hertz, 100 times more precise than previous measurements. And what did they reveal? The known nuclear effects explained part of the variations, but not all, there is a theoretical gap that could be due to a new force or a distortion of the nucleus called nuclear polarization, still poorly understood.
If confirmed, a fifth force could change everything we know about the structure of the universe, including being the key to understanding dark matter, that invisible mass that holds entire galaxies together. Today we only perceive its presence indirectly through its gravitational effect, but a force mediated by an as yet undiscovered particle could connect the missing pieces of this cosmic puzzle.
The researchers don't claim to have seen the new force yet, but they have already managed to narrow down how strong it could be if it exists.
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