Dark matter makes up over 95 per cent of the universe, but it remains a mystery to date. Two scientists have now suggested that particles known as tachyons that move faster than light likely make up dark matter. Scientists Samuel H. Kramer from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Ian H. Redmount from Saint Louis University created these hypothetical particles called tachyons which they say go against Einstein’s theory of relativity according to which speed of light is the cosmic speed limit. 

Tachyons can influence cosmic events in unimaginable ways, their paper states, adding that supposing that these particles dominate our universe, the idea wou.d still conform to the framework of modern physics. 

The scientists, as part of their theory, put forward a new model according to which the universe initially slows down before speeding up. The standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) model, according to which acceleration happens due to dark energy, doesn't remain the same since now the properties of tachyons dictate the pace of the universe’s expansion.

Since tachyons are faster than light, they assume a unique form of kinetic energy causing a shift from deceleration to acceleration.

They cited Type Ia supernovae, the consistently luminous “standard candles” of the universe, as proof of the theory, saying they are a reliable measure of distances across the universe. The researchers fitted their model to the supernova data and found that a universe where tachyons exist could explain the observed acceleration.

Their findings also matched with existing models, which means that the new tachyon-based model could be a valid alternative.

While tachyons simply exist in theory for now, if they were a reality, they could widely impact fields like particle physics and general relativity.

However, the model needs further testing and studies. 

What is dark matter and dark energy?

Despite making up 95 per cent of our universe, not much is known about dark matter and dark energy. The movement of galaxies and galaxy clusters is largely influenced by dark matter which makes up 27 per cent of the universe, while dark energy is about 68 per cent and is responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe.