Tag: Dark matter

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Gravity of Thought by Neena Singh

quantum physics
trying to wrap my head
around dark matter

by Neena Singh

What is Dark Matter?

Unsolved problem in physics: Dark matter is a form of matter that doesn’t emit, absorb, or reflect light, making it invisible. Its presence is inferred through its gravitational effects on visible matter, such as galaxies and stars.

Proportion: It accounts for approximately 27% of the universe’s mass-energy content, compared to just 5% for normal (baryonic) matter.

Further reading:

‘Dark matter’, Wikipedia article, available: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter

Author bio:

Neena Singh is a banker turned poet. Her haikai poetry is regularly published in journals and magazines. She has published three books of poetry—”Whispers of the Soul: the journey within”, “One Breath Poetry” and the upcoming “A Peacock’s Cry – seasons of haiku”. She runs a non-profit for quality interventions in the education and health of underprivileged children in Chandigarh, India.

This poem was originally published in Haiku Dialogue, 29th January 2025.

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Spooky Interaction by John Hawkhead

explaining photons
my side of the argument
neither here nor there

By John Hawkhead

Scientists argued for years about whether photons were particles or waves, but it seems that photons can behave as both. They are now known as ‘gauge bosons’ of force-carrying particles that enable interactions between matter particles and fundamental forces, and exhibit a third property known in quantum physics as ‘excitation’.

Dark matter theory suggests the possible existence of ‘dark photons’ as mediators of interaction between dark matter particles. Some experiments have indicated that interacting photons remain connected even as they move away from each other at the speed of light; therefore, appearing to interact faster than the speed of light. Einstein’s term for this was “spooky interaction at a distance”. As with other fundamental particles, it is not possible to know the location and velocity of a photon.

Further reading:

‘The wave-particle duality of photons’, Photon Terrace article, https://photonterrace.net/en/photon/duality/

‘Wave-particle duality and uncertainty principles’, section on Wikipedia entry for Photon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon#Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality_and_uncertainty_principles

Author bio:

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/). Read more of John’s sciku here!

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Dark Matter by John Hawkhead

dark matter theory
how strange particles appear
as they disappear

By John Hawkhead

Dark matter is a term used to describe the effect on the movement of stars by what scientists hypothesise to be matter. However, dark matter does not emit light or energy, and so is ‘invisible’. To hold the elements of the universe together, dark matter must make up approximately 80-85% percent of the universe.

Many scientists think dark matter is made up of particles known as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPS) or another type of particle the neutrino. The quantum world allows for the existence of virtual particles that can appear and disappear in zero point energy conditions.

Further reading: An Introduction to Dark Matter

John Hawkhead (@HawkheadJohn) has been writing haiku and illustrating for over 25 years. His work has been published all over the world and he has won a number of haiku competitions. John’s books of haiku and senryu, ‘Small Shadows’ and ‘Bone Moon’, are now available from Alba Publishing (http://www.albapublishing.com/).

Read more of John’s sciku here!