WISP (particle physics)
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In particle physics, the acronym WISP refers to a largely hypothetical weakly interacting sub-eV particle, or weakly interacting slender particle, or weakly interacting slim particle – low-mass particles which rarely interact with conventional particles.
The term is used to generally categorize a type of dark matter candidate, and is essentially synonymous with axion-like particle (ALP). WISPs are generally hypothetical particles.
WISPs are the low-mass counterpart of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs).
Discussion
Except for conventional, active
- strong forcerelated light particle
- electromagnetic forces
- Supersymmetric particles, particularly the lightest supersymmetric particle which might be a
- bosons
Excluded active neutrinos
Although ordinary “active”
The reason that active neutrinos are often not included among WISPs is that they are no longer viable dark matter candidates: Current estimated limits on their number density and mass indicate that their cumulative mass-density could not be high enough to account for the amount of dark matter inferred from its observed effects, although they certainly do make some small contribution to dark matter density.[1]
Sources
The various sources of WISPs could possibly include, hot astrophysical plasma and energy transport in stars.[1] Note however, that since they remain hypothetical (except for active neutrinos) the means of creation of WISPs depends on the theoretical framework used to propose them.
See also
- Axion
- Feebly interacting particle(FIP)
- Hot dark matter
- Light dark matter
- Lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP)
- Sterile neutrino
- Weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)
References
- ^ a b c Lindner, Axel; Ringwald, Andreas; Majorovits, Béla (4 March 2021). "In search of WISPs". CERN Courier. Searches for New Physics. CERN. Retrieved 7 May 2021.