Birefringent Rydberg Dark Matter from Cosmic Dust

Abstract

Water nanoclusters ejected to space from abundant amorphous water-ice-coated cosmic dust have been proposed to constitute Rydberg baryonic dark matter. This phenomenological model is now qualitatively supported by several recent observations: the laboratory-generated ejection of water nanoclusters from amorphous water-ice; the absence of dark matter in Galaxy NGC 1052-DF2; a recent study of dark matter in distant galaxies reporting the direct interaction of dark matter with galactic baryonic matter; the bullet cluster; and the birefringence of the cosmic microwave background. A link between Rydberg dark matter and dark energy and its relevance to quintessence are reviewed. The use of the James Webb Space Telescope to test this model further is suggested.