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Could Anti-Stars Explain Where All The Dark Matter Went?

Instruments aboard the ISS may have indicated the presence of anti-helium atoms in space.

By Silek Mon 14 Jun, 2021 8:05 PM - Last Updated: Tue 15 Jun, 2021 12:40 PM
Things are made of matter.

It’s a simple premise, and one for which almost no stretch of the imagination is required. What can be more difficult to wrap one’s mind around, is the existence of anti-matter.

It’s a Sci-Fi staple that’s been used for explaining a host of futuristic achievements from faster than light travel, to super weapons with the ability to wipe out the universe, but in reality, it’s an elusive and difficult area to dissect.

One of these reasons is that there just isn’t as much antimatter in the Universe as there’s supposed to be.

One of the most accepted hypotheses put forward by physicists assumes the Big Bang left us with as much anti matter as matter. From our vantage point at least, there seems to be either none left, or most of it is unobservable by us. We can look at electrons and positrons to see the relationship between these two, how they react, and of course the implications of what happens when they meet, and see that this is more than just a theory, but from there our understanding becomes very limited. Simon%20Dupourque
Astrophysicist Simon Dupourqué


As such, there are those who suggest our model of the universe should embody the fact that we may live in a universe statistically free of anti-matter.

While these discussions of persuasion take place, a small amount of data received by the International Space Station may be one of the breakthroughs these scientists have been waiting for.

Although yet to be confirmed, instruments aboard have indicated the presence of anti-helium atoms in space. If true, their origin must surely follow the same path as their mirror counterparts. As we would expect helium to originate from a star, it was put forward that these anti-helium atoms, must come from an anti-star.

As this theory has gained traction, some in the community set their sights on finding these types of stars and few potential candidates have already been identified.

While this has led many to get excited about such a fundamental change in our understanding of our Universe, some urge caution and patience when potential findings like this present themselves.

Simon Dupourqué, astrophysicist at the Institute of Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France and lead author of his team's research paper explains that even if they exist, finding them would be difficult.

He explained to Science News telling them, “It would be much easier to prove the candidates found so far are not anti-stars. Astronomers could watch how gamma rays from the candidates change over time. Those changes might hint at whether these objects are really spinning neutron stars. Other types of radiation from the objects might point to their actually being black holes.

Cautious optimism would seem to be the order of the day.


Let us know what you think in the comments.


WRITTEN AND EDITED BY Silek
IMAGES SOURCED FROM LinkedIn AND SciNews.com
3 Comments
Tue 15 Jun, 2021 9:34 PM
As i understand it, there shouldn't be any matter in the universe at all, as all particles are made in pairs, and they anhialate each other when they meet to be converted back into pure energy. The estemation i remember was that one in a billion particle pairs that was created resulted in a matter particle "Orphin" which accounts for all matter in the Universe today.

That's also what scares me about the "anti-star" concept. In a universe filled with matter and dark matter, such a powerful object would be.... very energetic... when it meets matter, like interstellar dust perhaps.
Wed 16 Jun, 2021 12:36 PM
I'm not familiar with the 'Orphan' concept, but keep in mind, anti-matter is observed on a regular basis. Positrons are considered anti-matter, as they are anti-electrons. These are regularly observed during thunderstorms. Anti particles are also given off at times through radioactive decay, and the LHC produces an observable environment on a consistent basis.

It is generally accepted that during the Big Bang, matter and anti-matter were dispersed in equal, or mostly equal amounts. Physics goes on to predict something I haven't really looked into, called CP Symmetry. The only thing I know about CP Symmetry, is that the observable Universe doesn't do what it predicts, and the most likely answer is that the anti-matter is out there, unobservable. Where it is, or where it went is one of the fundamental mysteries of Physics.

I had hoped to convey two points in the article.

1. The existence of anti-stars could explain where all this anti-matter is hiding.

2. This could also play into the amount of dark matter yet undetected predicted by gravity.

When researching or looking things up, my syllabus is usually limited to the mainstream homogenized opinions, lol. I love seeing different approaches and insights into what is mostly a fairly theoretical field.
Wed 16 Jun, 2021 5:03 PM
The most concise description of the matter antimatter imbalance problem i could find is this one:
Abstract
The matter-antimatter asymmetry problem, corresponding to the virtual nonexistence of antimatter in the universe, is one of the greatest mysteries of cosmology. According to the prevailing cosmological model, the universe was created
in the so-called “Big Bang” from pure energy and it is generally considered
that the Big Bang and its aftermath produced equal numbers of particles and
antiparticles, although the universe today appears to consist almost entirely
of matter rather than antimatter. This constitutes the matter-antimatter asymmetry problem: where have all the antiparticles gone? Within the framework
of the Generation Model (GM) of particle physics, it is demonstrated that the
asymmetry problem may be understood in terms of the composite leptons and
quarks of the GM. It is concluded that there is essentially no matter-antimatter
asymmetry in the present universe and that the observed hydrogen-antihydrogen
asymmetry may be understood in terms of statistical fluctuations associated
with the complex many-body processes involved in the formation of either a
hydrogen atom or an antihydrogen atom.

source:
Robson, B.A.
(201Cool The Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
Problem. Journal of High Energy Physics,
Gravitation and Cosmology, 4, 166-178.
https://doi.org/10.4236/jhepgc.2018.41015