Skip to main content
Tweeted twitter.com/StackPhysics/status/1001912565646192641
Question Protected by Qmechanic
edited tags
Link
Qmechanic
  • 213.1k
  • 48
  • 590
  • 2.3k
Source Link
safesphere
  • 12.9k
  • 1
  • 31
  • 63

What gives mass to dark matter particles?

Assuming that dark matter is not made of WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles), but interacts only gravitationally, what would be the possible mechanism giving mass to dark matter particles? If they don't interact weakly, they couldn't get mass from interacting with the Higgs field. The energy of gravitational interactions alone does not seem to be sufficient to account for a large particle mass. Would this imply that dark matter consists of a very large number of particles with a very small mass, perhaps much smaller than of neutrinos? Or do we need quantum gravity to explain the origin of mass of dark matter?