Is life based on dark matter possible?

The vast majority of mass in our universe is invisible. And for
quite some time, physicists have been trying to understand what
this elusive mass is. If it is made up of particles, the hope is that
the Large Hadron Collider can produce a dark matter particle, or
the space telescope will see an eloquent gamma ray signature
of a dark matter collision.
Renowned theoretical physicist Lisa Randall took a peek into
(https://bit.ly/3LsQRMl) one of the most incredible possibilities
of dark matter. Hypothetical, of course. Rather than treating dark
matter as a particular type of particle, she assumed that dark matter
could be made up of a whole family of particles that make up dark
stars, dark galaxies, dark planets, and possibly dark life. The
chemistry of the dark universe could be as rich and varied as our
own “regular chemistry.” But it’s not that simple.
1) Dark matter problem
Our Universe is an amazing, albeit incomprehensible place. Over
the past few decades, we have come to realize that 84.5% of the
matter in the Universe cannot be seen. Given its rather awkward
nickname “dark matter”, this substance is in a state in which it does
not interact with “normal” matter. Like dark energy, these things
are “dark” because we don’t understand them.
If there is a piece of dark matter on my desk now, I will never know
about it. A piece of dark matter in general, as such, cannot lie on
my desk. It will fall through the table, and the floor, and the
earth’s crust, rush into the gravity well at the core of our planet.
Or it will disappear into space in an incomprehensible way. Dark
matter interacts so weakly with anything that this piece will simply
fall through ordinary matter, as if it does not exist.
On a small scale, the gravitational manifestation of dark matter is
negligible, but at cosmological distances, the presence of dark
matter is definitely felt – it can be observed indirectly by its
gravitational effect on galaxy clusters and its effect on the
rotation of galaxies. We know that it exists, we just don’t see it.
We don’t know what it is, we can only guess
Ordinary matter – aka baryonic matter – interacts through
electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak forces. These forces
transfer energy and give structure to all matter. Dark matter, on the
other hand, is usually viewed as an amorphous cloud of “matter”
that cannot interact through electromagnetic, weak or strong forces.
Therefore, dark matter is assumed to be “non-baryonic”.
Non-baryonic matter can reveal its presence only gravitationally.
The leading candidate in the search for dark matter is WIMP, a weakly
interacting massive particle. As the WIMP name suggests, this
hypothetical particle does not interact with normal matter – so it is
not baryonic.
Established cosmological models predict that dark matter – be it in
the form of WIMPs or “axions”, say – endows our Universe with
structure and is usually simplistically called the “glue” that holds
our Universe as a whole.
Observing the rotation of galaxies, astronomer Vera Rubin noticed
that most of the matter in galaxies is not observable. Only a small
percentage are visible – stars, gas and dust; the rest hides in a huge
but invisible halo of dark matter. It’s like our visible galaxy of
ordinary matter is just a hood on a huge wheel of dark matter that
extends far beyond what we can see.
In a recently published paper, Randall and her colleagues presented
a more complex form of dark matter. According to them, the dark
matter halo of our galaxy does not consist of only one type of
amorphous mass of non-baryonic matter.
“It seems very strange to assume that all dark matter is composed
of just one type of particle,” writes Randall. “The unbiased
scientist should not allow dark matter to be as diverse as our
normal matter.”
2) A rich “shadow universe”?
Just as our visible universe is governed by the Standard Model
of physics – a well-proven family of particles (including the
infamous Higgs boson) and forces, could a rich and varied model
of dark matter particles and forces function in a dark galactic halo?
This research follows the logic of assuming a rich variety of
unknown physics in the dark sector of the universe – let’s call it
the “shadow universe” – that runs parallel to our own and has all
the complexities that our visible universe has to offer.
Astrophysicists previously suggested that “dark stars” – stars
composed of dark matter – may exist in our ancient universe to
this day. If so, Randall argues, perhaps “dark planets” could form.
And if there is a family of dark matter particles controlled by
forces deployed in the dark sector, could this lead to complex
chemistry? And to life?
However, if there is “dark” or “shadow” life parallel to our
universe, you can forget that we will be able to detect it.
3) Shadow life will remain in the shadows
It seems tempting to use this hypothesis to explain all the
day-to-day mysteries, or even paranormal claims, that science
cannot dispute or support. What if “ghosts” or inexplicable
“lights in the sky” are the antics of dark creatures living in the
back of everything?
While this logic would be fine for a TV show or movie, these
dark creatures would live in a shadowy universe that is completely
incompatible with ordinary matter. Their particles and forces
would have no effect in our universe. You could read these lines
sitting on a tree stump in a dark forest, and you would never know
about it.
But since we coexist with this shadow universe in the same
space-time – without unnecessary dimensions or multiverse – only
one signal can be transmitted.
Gravitational waves were only discovered in 2016, and the first
detection of these ripples in space-time was caused by the collision
of black holes. It seems quite possible that gravitational waves can
be detected in the dark sector, but only the most powerful cosmic
events in the dark sector can be detected at our end of the wire.
All in all, we’ll almost certainly never prove the existence of cute
dark matter creatures, but Randall makes a point. When we
contemplate the source of dark matter, we must look beyond our
prejudices; the dark sector can be a complex family of dark matter
particles and forces that are beyond what we can imagine.