As physicists continue their struggle to find and explain the origin of dark matter, the approximately 80% of the matter in the universe that we can't see and so far haven't been able to detect, researchers have now proposed a model where it is produced before the Big Bang.

Researchers have proposed a new model that suggests dark matter originated during the infinitesimally short span before the Big Bang.

According to Freese and Winkler, however, a Dark Big Bang is consistent with the evidence for dark matter – as long as it happened promptly, within about a month of the first Big Bang.

Energy transition Dark matter may have been created after the Big Bang, something that could soon be tested by gravitational wave detectors. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Tomertu) New constraints on a theory that says dark matter was created just after the Big Bang  – rather than at the Big Bang – have been determined by Richard Casey and  Cosmin Ilie at Colgate University in the US.

For nearly a century, dark matter has stood as one of the most perplexing mysteries in modern physics. Despite its invisibility, its existence is undeniable, as it exerts gravitational effects that are essential for explaining the structure and behavior of galaxies.

Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Cosmin Ilie and Richard Casey ’24 have explored an idea put forth by two scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, Katherine Freese and Martin Winkler, suggesting that dark matter may have originated from a separate “Dark Big Bang,” occurring shortly after the birth of the universe.