Dark matter and the origin of mass: a simplified semiclassical approach

Abstract

The pervasive presence in space of a flux of high-speed, electrically uncharged dark matter particles is examined here for potential consequences. Dark matter interactions with ordinary matter are considered, and a model of the dark matter flux is developed. In this model, the property of matter that we designate as mass is a measure of the interaction cross section of ordinary matter with the flux of dark matter. From this model emerge effects similar to certain quantum phenomena, and also a flux-mediated attractive inverse-square force between particles of ordinary matter. The occurrence of effects resembling both quantum phenomena and effects resembling gravitational phenomena in this model may enable a straightforward examination of convergence of gravitational physics and quantum mechanics.