An Acceleron is a hypothetical

subatomic particle In physical sciences, a subatomic particle is a particle that composes an atom. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, a subatomic particle can be either a composite particle, which is composed of other particles (for example, a pr ...

postulated to relate the mass of the

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass ...

to the

dark energy In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. The first observational evidence for its existence came from measurements of supernovas, which showed that the univer ...

conjectured to be responsible for the

accelerating expansion of the universe Observations show that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, such that the velocity at which a distant galaxy recedes from the observer is continuously increasing with time. The accelerated expansion of the universe was discovered durin ...

. Accelerons are supposedly postulated at the University of Washington to relate the newfound mass of the neutrino to the dark energy conjectured to be accelerating the expansion of the universe.

References

Dark energy Hypothetical elementary particles {{particle-stub