In May of this year the LHC will be turned on at full power after a wait of more than two years , as scientists prepare to probe the secrets of the universe closer than ever before . And if one scientists gets his way , one of these searches could involve looking for dark matter - one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the cosmos . He proposes that the Higgs boson itself - which gives particles their mass - could disintegrate into dark matter , and he ’ s hoping the team at Cern can prove his theory . Scroll down for video . Previously a Higgs particle has been created in an LHC detector and has then disintegrated into four muons ( the four red lines ) . According to Dr Christoffer Petersson ’ s model the Higgs particle can also disintegrate into a photon and particles of dark matter . Dr Christoffer Petersson from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and two colleagues came up with the new particle model to predict the existence of dark matter . The current ‘ Standard Model ’ of particle physics is quite good at describing physics on a subatomic level , but it can ’ t account for dark matter in the universe . Dr Petersson ’ s model , though , contains more ‘ elementary particles ’ - the smallest known to exist - than the Standard Model . This includes dark matter particles . When physicists study the dynamics of galaxies and the movement of stars , they are confronted with a mystery . If they only take visible matter into account , their equations simply do n't add up ; the elements that can be observed are not sufficient to explain the rotation of objects and the existing gravitational forces . There is something missing . From this they deduced that there must be an invisible kind of matter that does not interact with light but does , as a whole , interact by means of the gravitational force . Called 'dark matter ' , this substance appears to make up at least 80 per cent of the matter in the known universe . And his model also gives the Higgs particle different properties , suggesting that it can disintegrate into a photon ( a particle of light ) and particles of dark matter . To prove his theory , though , he needs a particle accelerator - and it seems that Cern is willing to conduct such an experiment . Two independent experimental stations - Atlas and CMS - at the Large Hadron Collider are looking for the very properties of the Higgs particle his model predicts . If the properties are there , it is a clear indication that the model fits . ‘ It 's a dream for a theorist in particle physics , ’ said Dr Petersson . ‘ [ The ] LHC is the only place where the model can be tested . It 's even nicer that two independent experiments are going to do it . ' The current ‘ Standard Model ’ of particle physics is quite good at describing physics on a subatomic level , but it can ’ t account for dark matter in the universe ( illustrated ) . Dr Petersson ’ s model , though , contains more ‘ elementary particles ’ than the Standard Model - and crucially it includes dark matter particles . In May of this year the LHC will be turned on at full power after a wait of more than two years , as scientists prepare to probe the secrets of the universe closer than ever before . Pictured is the Atlas experiment at the LHC , one of two instruments trying to prove - or disprove - Dr Petersson 's model . In the first studies the volume of data was unfortunately too small for it to be possible to either confirm or reject Petersson 's model . ‘ But we are already in full swing with new analyses in which we are testing his model in other ways and with more data , ’ said Dr Zeynap Demiragli at the CMS experiment at Cern . ‘ We congratulate Christoffer Petersson for having done an important job. ’ After being closed down for a time for an upgrade , LHC will start up again in the spring of 2015 . With higher energies in the accelerator , the experiments will finally gather sufficient data to evaluate Dr Petersson 's model properly . ‘ If the model is found to fit , it would completely change our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of nature , ' he said . 'If not , just the fact that they are willing to test my model at Cern is great . '
Dr Christoffer Petersson from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has proposed a new model for particle physics . He says the Higgs boson can disintegrate into dark matter . The team at the Large Hadron Collider in Cern will be testing his theory . If the properties are there , it is a clear indication that the model fits . 'Just the fact that they are willing to test my model at Cern is great , ' he said . The LHC is to be turned on at full power in May after a wait of two years .