Ask Ethan: Could Dark Matter Not Be A Particle, At All?
We always assume that dark matter is particle-based, and we just need to find which particle it is. But what if it isn’t so?
Everything we’ve ever detected in the Universe, from matter to radiation, can be broken down into its smallest constituents. Everything in this world is made of atoms, which are made of nuclei and electrons, where nuclei themselves are made of quarks and gluons. Light itself is made of particles: photons. Even gravitational waves, in theory, are made of gravitons: particles we may someday be able to create and detect. But what about dark matter? The indirect evidence for its existence is tremendous and overwhelming, but must it, too, be a particle? That’s what our Patreon supporter Darren Redfern wants to know, as he asks:
If dark energy can be interpreted as an energy inherent to the fabric of space itself, could it also be possible that what we perceive as “dark matter” is also an inherent function of space itself — either tightly or loosely coupled to dark energy? That is, instead of dark matter being particulate, could it permeate all of space with (homogeneous or heterogeneous) gravitational effects that would explain our observations — more of a “dark mass”?
