SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
GPS has a new job. It does a great job of telling us our location, but the network of hyper-accurate clocks in space could get a fix on something far more elusive: dark matter.
Dark matter makes up 80 per cent of the universe's matter but scarcely interacts with ordinary matter. A novel particle is the most popular candidate, but Andrei Derevianko ( http://www.dereviankogroup.com/dark-matter-atomic-clocks-idea-call-experimental-efforts/ ) at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Maxim Pospelov ( http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/maxim-pospelov ) at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada propose that kinks or cracks in the quantum fields that permeate the universe could be the culprit.
If they are right, fundamental properties such as the mass of an electron or the strength of electromagnetic fields would change at the kinks. "The effect is essentially locally modifying fundamental constants," Derevianko says. Clocks would be affected too, measuring time slightly differently as a result.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26575-dark-matter-could-be-seen-in-gps-time-glitches.html
[Abstract/Paper]:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1311.1244
http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphys3137.html
(Score: 2) by Geezer on Tuesday November 18 2014, @11:31AM
Pauli's yet-to-be-observed neutrino was postulated rather precisely, much like any other theoretical discovery awaiting experimental/observational confirmation. Basic good science, that.
My contention is that we have a system of understanding (QM) that remains incomplete and still leaves much to be fully understood (including gravity). At some point the math no longer avails, so we invent a whole new class of ill-defined, nondescript matter to explain it away like the tooth fairy? I politely assert that your Case 2 is likely closer to the actual state of things. :)
(Score: 1) by PiMuNu on Tuesday November 18 2014, @11:44AM
Let me paraphrase myself:
Case 1: some ill-defined, nondescript matter to explain it away like the tooth fairy.
Case 2: some ill-defined, nondescript physical law to explain it away like santa claus.
Take your pick. But don't rule out the tooth fairy because you think santa claus might exist...