Dark matter on a different brane

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between brane theory and dark matter, exploring whether gravity attributed to dark matter could be influenced by matter existing in another spatial dimension. Participants examine various aspects of string theory, branes, and their implications for dark matter candidates.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that if gravity extends into another spatial dimension, it could imply that dark matter might also be related to matter in that dimension.
  • Another participant notes the abundance of string theories that include branes but highlights the lack of specific predictions regarding dark matter candidates within those theories.
  • A participant references the Randall-Sundrum model as potentially linking the shape of our brane to dark matter, proposing that our own matter could also be a candidate for dark matter.
  • One contribution discusses the idea that string theory might reduce to a low-energy effective supersymmetry (SUSY) theory, suggesting that dark matter on a second brane is not a necessary condition in these models.
  • Clarification is provided regarding the nature of branes, emphasizing that they are not simply two-dimensional strings but can exist in multiple dimensions, with specific notation for different types of branes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the implications of brane theory for dark matter, with no consensus reached on the relationship between dark matter and matter in other dimensions. Multiple competing ideas and models are presented without resolution.

Contextual Notes

Some discussions involve assumptions about the nature of branes and their dimensionality, as well as the speculative nature of linking brane theory to dark matter candidates. The conversation reflects a range of interpretations and hypotheses without definitive conclusions.

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If brane theory says that gravity is weak because it extends into another spatial dimension, is it also saying that the gravity attributed to dark matter might be due to matter in another spatial dimension?
 
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None that I have read about. There are a LOT of string theories out, many have branes; that is two dimensional strings.


In addition
string theory does offer possible candidates for dark matter since since many theories include a LOT more particles and forces than has been observed (detected). String theory seems to offer no specific predictions as to which of many possible candidates are the dark energy or dark matter

Lee Smolin, THE TROUBLE WITH PHYSICS,2006
 
As far as my layman's research took me (I had a very similar idea), the Randall-Sundrum-Modell specifically mentions this effect as a possible source for dark matter.

I also thought that, depending of "our" brane's shape in a super-space, our very own matter might be just as much of a candidate as well, though that sounds even wilder (and, in my case, has to be called philosophical thinking, since I have no educational basis in physics - just math and IT).
 
One well-known but still incomplete idea is that string theory reduces to a low-energy effective SUSY theory which could be similar to the MSSM. Then the standard SUSY mechanisms (e.g. neutralinos, ... as DM candidates) apply. Unfortunately neither a realistic reduction to the SM or MSSM is known, nor is the generation of small but nonvanishing masses understood.

In these models DM located on a second brane is not required.
 
Naty1 said:
None that I have read about. There are a LOT of string theories out, many have branes; that is two dimensional strings.
Just to be careful, branes are not 2D strings. Branes are nonperturbative objects that arise as solutions to the supergravity equations of motion. They can be in any number of dimensions (up to the total dimensionality of the theory), although some string theories can only have odd or even dimension branes. The proper notation is a Dp-brane, where p denotes the number of spatial dimensions. Most popular brane world models posit our universe to be a D3-brane, with 3 uncompactified spatial dimensions.

Now, you can have a D1-brane, which is 1-dimensional like a fundamental string, and you can have higher dimensional Dp-branes wrapped around p-1 compactified extra dimensions, leaving only 1 extended dimension, also like a string.
 

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