A study published in Nuclear Physics B and led by Richard Pincak examines the possibility that the fundamental forces of nature and the characteristics of particles arise from the geometry of hidden extra dimensions.
The researchers propose that the universe may include unseen dimensions shaped into complex seven-dimensional forms called G2-manifolds. These structures were typically viewed as fixed, but Pincak and his team treat them as evolving systems that change over time through a process known as the G2–Ricci flow, which alters their internal geometry as it progresses.
“As in organic systems, such as the twisting of DNA or the handedness of amino acids, these extra-dimensional structures can possess torsion, a kind of intrinsic twist,” explains Pincak. “When we let them evolve in time, we find that they can settle into stable configurations called solitons. These solitons could provide a purely geometric explanation of phenomena such as spontaneous symmetry breaking.”
In the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs field gives mass to the W and Z bosons. But the authors suggest that mass could instead arise from geometric torsion in extra dimensions, without introducing an additional Higgs field. “In our picture,” Pincak says, “matter emerges from the resistance of geometry itself, not from an external field.”
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