Dark Matter and Intelligent Design: A Prediction
From the point of view of intelligent design, it is believed that many features of this universe are designed for the benefit of life. The fine-tuning of physical parameters, such as the expansion rate of the universe and the strengths of the fundamental forces, are well-known examples that fall within exclusively narrow ranges allowing biological life to exist.
Predictions of design in physics and biology have been made and substantiated, even in cases when the materialistic worldview suggested otherwise. The value of “junk DNA” has powerfully vindicated the view of design in biology, and the historical discovery of the nuclear resonance energy levels of carbon and oxygen confirmed an earlier anthropic prediction from astronomy.
Dark Matter
Following this precedent, I would like to suggest the possibility that dark matter, one of the mysterious components of the cosmos, will turn out to serve more than one design purpose. But first, let’s look at some of the remarkable features of dark matter, already discovered by observations in astronomy and cosmology.
An enormous reservoir of dark matter particles resides in our universe as a “leftover” from the beginning of the cosmos, as described by the big bang model. Astronomers estimate that approximately five times more dark matter exists in our universe than what we know as ordinary matter. An intriguing description of the presence of dark matter is given by astrophysicists Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes:1
It is important to remember that dark matter isn’t something weird “out there”, but permeates the Solar System, and even the room in which you are sitting….
The presence of dark matter is far from irrelevant to our existence. Lewis and Barnes point out that the cumulative gravitational attraction of dark matter in the Milky Way is needed to keep our solar system orbiting around the galactic center rather than flying off into intergalactic space!
An Anthropic Purpose
Scientists have already discovered that dark matter serves an anthropic purpose in developing the habitability of the universe. Its unique property of interacting gravitationally but not electromagnetically allowed dark matter in the early universe to more easily clump together than normal matter could. Once these galactic-scale clumps of dark matter formed, they gravitationally attracted normal matter into the same regions of space, aiding in the formation of galaxies, and thereby stars, and planets. As far as our physics and observations tells us, without a finely tuned amount of dark matter in the universe, no habitable planets would ever come to exist.2
Dark matter, so named because it does not emit, reflect, or absorb light, is estimated to make up 85% of the mass in the universe but has never been directly detected, though it has left its fingerprints on multiple astronomical observations. We wouldn’t exist without this mysterious yet fundamental piece of the universe; dark matter’s mass contributes to the gravitational attraction that helps galaxies form and stay together.
If dark matter particles exist in all the space around us, why are they so elusive? Physicists have so far not succeeded in detecting a single particle of dark matter. The difficulty may lie in the inherently exotic nature of the particles, possibly existing merely as higher-dimensional oscillations, whimsically referred to by physicists as “WIMPS” — weakly interacting massive particles.
Recent results from the world’s most sensitive dark matter detector, operating nearly a mile underground (to provide shielding from the “noise” of cosmic rays), have lowered the range of the possible effective mass of WIMPS to about ten times the mass of a proton.
The new result is nearly five times better than the previous world’s best published result and finds no evidence of WIMPs above a mass of 9 GeV/c2.
The Interesting Part
Once in the ground state, the formerly “dark” particle of matter would exist as a normal particle of matter in our universe. But here is the interesting part — as the particle transitions to the next-lower excitation level, it would emit a quantum of energy equivalent to its rest-mass energy. If, for example, the dark matter particle de-excited from the second excited state down to the ground state, it would emit two photons of energy (in the gamma-wave region of the electromagnetic spectrum), each with an energy equivalent to the rest-mass energy of the particle.
To acquire energy from such a dark matter particle, it must undergo de-excitation to its ground state. Borrowing from the concept of laser technology, which uses radiation tuned to the energy difference between the excited state and a lower state to “stimulate” the emission of a photon of energy, a dark matter particle could perhaps be de-excited by appropriately tuned radiation.
Theory suggests that the energy of the radiation should be matched to the rest mass energy of the corresponding normal particle. For a proton, this would be 938 MeV, corresponding to radiation in the gamma-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
A Futuristic Energy Source
Sometimes, science fiction authors pave the way for scientific advances by imagining technology far in advance of the present-day state-of-affairs. A couple of authors that I’m familiar with have imagined a futuristic energy source that could overlap with the idea for dark matter energy I’ve proposed in this article.
One of these is Michael Guillen, PhD, author of several books highlighting intelligent design. In a fictional work he wrote, The Null Prophecy, he envisions an energy source for new technology that made me ponder the possibility of energy from extra-dimensional particles. The other reference is from classic science fiction author, Dr. E. E. Smith, who leaves out all the details and in typical swash-buckling sci-fi style describes powering spaceships with “cosmic-energy receptors and converters.”
Whether dark matter will turn out to manifest additional aspects of design for the benefit of humans remains to be seen. But if past trends in the discovery of fine-tuning, foresight, and purpose continue, I think it’s a sure bet.
Notes
Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes, “A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos,” (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), p. 130.
Ibid, pp. 148-152.
E. R. Hedin, “Extra-dimensional confinement of quantum particles,” Physics Essays, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 177-190, June, 2012. V.K. Oikonomou, J.D. Vergados, Ch.C. Moustakidis, “Direct detection of dark matter rates for various wimps,” Nuclear Physics B, 773, Issues 1–2, (2007), pp. 19-42.
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