Step Aside, Gravity: Scientists Confirm Possibility of New, Fifth Force of Nature
Published:
Aug 17 2016 12:00 AM EDT
By Anna Norris
weather.com

What holds galaxies together like the spiral NGC 6814? UCI scientists think they know. (ESA/Hubble/NASA)

Of all the mysteries of the universe, there are a handful of forces we know to be true. Take gravity, for example. We can observe a raindrop as it falls from the sky and infer the reason behind that journey from the clouds to the ground.

But a group of physicits from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) may have made a "revolutionary" discovery about the universe we live in. They may have found a new, fifth force of nature, never before realized. One that could, as lead author Jonathan Feng said in a statement, "completely change our understanding of the universe."

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The UCI researchers came to their conclusion after examining a 2015 study from researchers at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences who were looking for "dark photons," visible clues to the dark matter that is responsible for the majority of the universe's mass.

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If the force is confirmed, it may be the answer to many of the questions physicists currently have about dark matter. It could also be related to electromagnetic and strong and weak nuclear forces such that it ties them all together as "manifestations of one grander, more fundamental force," Feng said.