Looking through a google search on something, came across a blurb from someone at the LHC suggesting they had seen a 'very minor, maybe possible hint' of an "quark octet". They actually used this kind of "terminology" as they were not at all sure of what they had seen, but that the "signal" might be related to such a "particle". A quick search indicates such particles are not associated with the WIMPs model for Dark Matter (DM).
Having very little exposure to all this stuff, found a reference to the hexaquark (1), which apparently has real data suggesting it likely exists, possibly for very extended periods of time. It seems possible that such non-baryonic hadrons came out of the quark-gluon plasma in large numbers, which occurred very early in the BB, before the formation of elements (2). Such particles are postulated as candidates for DM.
Some extra searches came up with one recent article where it appears that some experts in this field postulate "a stable, neutral, as-yet-undiscovered hadron in the standard model" (3). As this abstract was posted last year, it seems such particles may still be in the running for DM.
Perhaps simplistically, it seems there are a considerable number of combinations of subatomic particles which could form such DM candidates, and it may actually be composed of more than one form based on quarks, such as quark-gluon combinations. This is all very new to me, but references to such things date back many years, so it does not appear to be coming out of left field, so to say. The LHC is apparently the only place right now to look for them.
A search of thescienceforum.com has some comments regarding the subject of DM, but most are from quite some time ago.
Does anyone know of a reference (which is not overly complex, assuming that is even possible) for these hypothetical particles, regarding their possible formation and composition for DM formation during, and their fate after, the BB? And could such particles, perhaps by decay processes, play a role in Dark Energy?
TIA
1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexaquark
2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark%...93gluon_plasma
3.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.10378