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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.16663 |
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| _version_ | 1866915994380795904 |
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| author | Houde, Martin Rajabi, Fereshteh Sati, Lamies Anari, Vahid |
| author_facet | Houde, Martin Rajabi, Fereshteh Sati, Lamies Anari, Vahid |
| contents | The origin of dark matter in galactic halos, one of the deepest unsolved problems in astrophysics, may find an unexpected contribution from the quantum mechanics of ordinary atomic hydrogen. We show that quantum entanglement and coherence among hydrogen atoms in a gas at thermal equilibrium can naturally lead to subradiance, a cooperative suppression of radiation that renders the gas simultaneously dark in emission, transparent to incident radiation, and effectively collision-less. These three properties, precisely those associated with dark matter, emerge from a single underlying physical mechanism: the entangled structure of Dicke states in the gas. Applying this framework to the 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen in galactic dark matter halos, we find that conditions there place the gas deep in the asymptotic subradiance regime, where the strongly suppressed spontaneous and stimulated intensities cancel exactly. The cold neutral cores of high-velocity clouds, with their observed temperatures near 100 K and inferred dark-to-visible mass ratios of ~100:1, are consistent with this picture. Our results suggest that a significant fraction of the non-luminous matter pervading galactic halos may be familiar atomic hydrogen whose quantum cooperative behavior hides it from view; a solution that may have been hiding in plain sight. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_16663 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Quantum coherence and the invisible Universe: Subradiance as a dark matter mechanism Houde, Martin Rajabi, Fereshteh Sati, Lamies Anari, Vahid Astrophysics of Galaxies Quantum Physics The origin of dark matter in galactic halos, one of the deepest unsolved problems in astrophysics, may find an unexpected contribution from the quantum mechanics of ordinary atomic hydrogen. We show that quantum entanglement and coherence among hydrogen atoms in a gas at thermal equilibrium can naturally lead to subradiance, a cooperative suppression of radiation that renders the gas simultaneously dark in emission, transparent to incident radiation, and effectively collision-less. These three properties, precisely those associated with dark matter, emerge from a single underlying physical mechanism: the entangled structure of Dicke states in the gas. Applying this framework to the 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen in galactic dark matter halos, we find that conditions there place the gas deep in the asymptotic subradiance regime, where the strongly suppressed spontaneous and stimulated intensities cancel exactly. The cold neutral cores of high-velocity clouds, with their observed temperatures near 100 K and inferred dark-to-visible mass ratios of ~100:1, are consistent with this picture. Our results suggest that a significant fraction of the non-luminous matter pervading galactic halos may be familiar atomic hydrogen whose quantum cooperative behavior hides it from view; a solution that may have been hiding in plain sight. |
| title | Quantum coherence and the invisible Universe: Subradiance as a dark matter mechanism |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.16663 |