'Chameleon' Particles Could Uncover Dark Energy

Basically, what the model stated at the time was that this class of particles was able to change its mass on its own, depending entirely on its surroundings. Now, a new paper claims to have found the particle in the 2003 model, which was in fact hypothetically constructed to help explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe. According to the research, if the chameleon particle has the ability to change its mass, then it could exert various amounts of force in the things around it.

Scientists have over the years hypothesized that photons have the ability to turn into chameleon particles when they pass through powerful magnetic fields. If this turns out to be true, it could have major implications in the field of astronomy, because it would mean that the light reaching us from distant sources is actually a lot dimmer than in reality, after passing near black holes, massive stars, and other objects with large magnetic fields.