If proven to be an additional force we haven't yet seen, it could help explain the existence of dark matter particles.
Scientists have long since unearthed the four fundamental interactions in nature, the forces by which objects and particles interact. Those are gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear (binding force between subatomic particles) and weak nuclear (subatomic separating force). But research is now emerging that suggests there could be a fifth natural force, yet to be discovered.
According to Nature News, physicists from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, lead by Attila Krasznahorkay, published a research paper last year that claimed irregularities in radioactive decay are hints of another force at play. During research surrounding a possibility of “dark photons”, as a cause for dark matter, the team fired protons at a thin strip of lithium. This positive charge overload changed the lithium into an unstable version of beryllium, which then underwent the expected radioactive decay. However, when the lithium was bombarded with protons at an angle of exactly 140 degrees, the number of protons and electrons emitted from radioactive decay was more than expected. Krasznahorkay and his team suggest that these excess subatomic particles are being emitted by a new particle, 34 times heavier than the electron, which suggests there’s an undiscovered force at work.
Despite being published last year, the paper received almost no recognition until physicist Jonathan Feng and his team of researchers at the University of California got their hands on it. When they analysed the experiment and its setup, the team could find nothing wrong with Krasznahorkay’s conclusion.
To put that into perspective, the physics world has for a long time considered the existence of a fifth force, mostly because it would provide a reason standard particle physics has been unable to explain dark matter, despite its proven existence. Now, researchers around the world are eager to tackle Krasznahorkay’s experiment themselves, to either validate or disprove his research. And if the theory proves to hold water, it could go a long way in helping us understand the universe around us.
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