Professor Zhu Shouhua’s research group from the School of Physics proposed a catalytic mechanism for interpreting the abundance of dark matter in the universe

The research group of Professor Zhu Shouhua from the School of Physics proposed a new catalytic mechanism to explain the abundance of dark matter in the universe, providing new ideas for the theoretical exploration of dark matter, and new candidates for the experimental detection of dark matter
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Relevant research results to the "dark matter annihilation by catalytic decoupled" ( Dark Matter Freeze-OUT Via Catalyzed Annihilation ) in the title, August 6, 2021 published in "Physical Review Letters" ( Physical Review Letters )

Dark matter, as the name suggests, is the "dark" matter in the universe that does not interact strongly with light
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It is generally believed that it is difficult to find traces of dark matter by means of electromagnetic wave observation

At present, the most important understanding of dark matter is its abundance in the universe
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In order to explain that dark matter accounts for about 27% of the energy in the universe, it is first necessary to understand how dark matter evolved in the early universe and the interactions that dark matter participated in

Zhu Shouhua’s research group at the Institute of Theoretical Physics and the State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Technology, Peking University, has long focused on the study of new physics beyond the Standard Model, and recently proposed a new catalytic mechanism to explain the abundance of dark matter in the universe.
It provides new ideas for the theoretical exploration of dark matter, and also provides a new candidate target for the experimental detection of dark matter
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Their research found that after introducing a new catalytic mechanism, although the interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter is much weaker than originally thought, the correct dark matter abundance can still be obtained

Schematic diagram of the annihilation process of dark matter particles (blue represents dark matter particles, red represents catalyst particles)

Xing Chuanyang, a 2017 doctoral student in the School of Physics, is the first author, and Zhu Shouhua and Xing Chuanyang are the co-corresponding authors

The above-mentioned research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Center for High Energy Physics of Peking University, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Quantum Matter Science