DarkEnergy,DarkMatter
Intheearly1990's,onethingwasfairlycertainabouttheexpansionoftheUniverse.Itmighthaveenough
energydensitytostopitsexpansionandrecollapse,itmighthavesolittleenergydensitythatitwould
neverstopexpanding,butgravitywascertaintoslowtheexpansionastimewenton.Granted,theslowing
hadnotbeenobserved,but,theoretically,theUniversehadtoslow.TheUniverseisfullofmatterandthe
attractiveforceofgravitypullsallmattertogether.Thencame1998andtheHubbleSpaceTelescope
(HST)observationsofverydistantsupernovaethatshowedthat,alongtimeago,theUniversewasactually
expandingmoreslowlythanitistoday.SotheexpansionoftheUniversehasnotbeenslowingdueto
gravity,aseveryonethought,ithasbeenaccelerating.Nooneexpectedthis,nooneknewhowtoexplainit.
Butsomethingwascausingit.
Eventuallytheoristscameupwiththreesortsofexplanations.Maybeitwasaresultofalongdiscarded
versionofEinstein'stheoryofgravity,onethatcontainedwhatwascalleda"cosmologicalconstant."
Maybetherewassomestrangekindofenergyfluidthatfilledspace.Maybethereissomethingwrongwith
Einstein'stheoryofgravityandanewtheorycouldincludesomekindoffieldthatcreatesthiscosmic
acceleration.Theoristsstilldon'tknowwhatthecorrectexplanationis,buttheyhavegiventhesolutiona
name.Itiscalleddarkenergy.
WhatIsDarkEnergy?
UniverseDarkEnergy1ExpandingUniverse
Thisdiagramrevealschangesintherateofexpansionsincetheuniverse'sbirth15billionyearsago.The
moreshallowthecurve,thefastertherateofexpansion.Thecurvechangesnoticeablyabout7.5billion
yearsago,whenobjectsintheuniversebeganflyingapartasafasterrate.Astronomerstheorizethatthe
fasterexpansionrateisduetoamysterious,darkforcethatispullinggalaxiesapart.
NASA/STSci/AnnFeild
Moreisunknownthanisknown.Weknowhowmuchdarkenergythereisbecauseweknowhowitaffects
theUniverse'sexpansion.Otherthanthat,itisacompletemystery.Butitisanimportantmystery.Itturns
outthatroughly68%oftheUniverseisdarkenergy.Darkmattermakesupabout27%.Therest
everythingonEarth,everythingeverobservedwithallofourinstruments,allnormalmatteraddsupto
lessthan5%oftheUniverse.Cometothinkofit,maybeitshouldn'tbecalled"normal"matteratall,since
itissuchasmallfractionoftheUniverse.
Oneexplanationfordarkenergyisthatitisapropertyofspace.AlbertEinsteinwasthefirstpersonto
realizethatemptyspaceisnotnothing.Spacehasamazingproperties,manyofwhicharejustbeginningto
beunderstood.ThefirstpropertythatEinsteindiscoveredisthatitispossibleformorespacetocomeinto
existence.ThenoneversionofEinstein'sgravitytheory,theversionthatcontainsacosmologicalconstant,
makesasecondprediction:"emptyspace"canpossessitsownenergy.Becausethisenergyisapropertyof
spaceitself,itwouldnotbedilutedasspaceexpands.Asmorespacecomesintoexistence,moreofthis
energyofspacewouldappear.Asaresult,thisformofenergywouldcausetheUniversetoexpandfaster
andfaster.Unfortunately,nooneunderstandswhythecosmologicalconstantshouldevenbethere,much
lesswhyitwouldhaveexactlytherightvaluetocausetheobservedaccelerationoftheUniverse.
DarkMatterCoreDefiesExplanation
Thisimageshowsthedistributionofdarkmatter,galaxies,andhotgasinthecoreofthemerginggalaxy
clusterAbell520.Theresultcouldpresentachallengetobasictheoriesofdarkmatter.
Anotherexplanationforhowspaceacquiresenergycomesfromthequantumtheoryofmatter.Inthis
theory,"emptyspace"isactuallyfulloftemporary("virtual")particlesthatcontinuallyformandthen
disappear.Butwhenphysiciststriedtocalculatehowmuchenergythiswouldgiveemptyspace,theanswer
cameoutwrongwrongbyalot.Thenumbercameout10120timestoobig.That'sa1with120zerosafter
it.It'shardtogetananswerthatbad.Sothemysterycontinues.
Anotherexplanationfordarkenergyisthatitisanewkindofdynamicalenergyfluidorfield,something
thatfillsallofspacebutsomethingwhoseeffectontheexpansionoftheUniverseistheoppositeofthatof
matterandnormalenergy.Sometheoristshavenamedthis"quintessence,"afterthefifthelementofthe
Greekphilosophers.But,ifquintessenceistheanswer,westilldon'tknowwhatitislike,whatitinteracts
with,orwhyitexists.Sothemysterycontinues.
AlastpossibilityisthatEinstein'stheoryofgravityisnotcorrect.Thatwouldnotonlyaffecttheexpansion
oftheUniverse,butitwouldalsoaffectthewaythatnormalmatteringalaxiesandclustersofgalaxies
behaved.Thisfactwouldprovideawaytodecideifthesolutiontothedarkenergyproblemisanew
gravitytheoryornot:wecouldobservehowgalaxiescometogetherinclusters.Butifitdoesturnoutthata
newtheoryofgravityisneeded,whatkindoftheorywoulditbe?Howcoulditcorrectlydescribethe
motionofthebodiesintheSolarSystem,asEinstein'stheoryisknowntodo,andstillgiveusthedifferent
predictionfortheUniversethatweneed?Therearecandidatetheories,butnonearecompelling.Sothe
mysterycontinues.
Thethingthatisneededtodecidebetweendarkenergypossibilitiesapropertyofspace,anewdynamic
fluid,oranewtheoryofgravityismoredata,betterdata.
WhatIsDarkMatter?
Abell2744:Pandora'sClusterRevealed
Oneofthemostcomplicatedanddramaticcollisionsbetweengalaxyclusterseverseeniscapturedinthis
newcompositeimageofAbell2744.Theblueshowsamapofthetotalmassconcentration(mostlydark
matter).
ByfittingatheoreticalmodelofthecompositionoftheUniversetothecombinedsetofcosmological
observations,scientistshavecomeupwiththecompositionthatwedescribedabove,~68%darkenergy,
~27%darkmatter,~5%normalmatter.Whatisdarkmatter?
Wearemuchmorecertainwhatdarkmatterisnotthanwearewhatitis.First,itisdark,meaningthatitis
notintheformofstarsandplanetsthatwesee.Observationsshowthatthereisfartoolittlevisiblematter
intheUniversetomakeupthe27%requiredbytheobservations.Second,itisnotintheformofdark
cloudsofnormalmatter,mattermadeupofparticlescalledbaryons.Weknowthisbecausewewouldbe
abletodetectbaryoniccloudsbytheirabsorptionofradiationpassingthroughthem.Third,darkmatteris
notantimatter,becausewedonotseetheuniquegammaraysthatareproducedwhenantimatterannihilates
withmatter.Finally,wecanruleoutlargegalaxysizedblackholesonthebasisofhowmanygravitational
lenseswesee.Highconcentrationsofmatterbendlightpassingnearthemfromobjectsfurtheraway,but
wedonotseeenoughlensingeventstosuggestthatsuchobjectstomakeuptherequired25%darkmatter
contribution.
However,atthispoint,therearestillafewdarkmatterpossibilitiesthatareviable.Baryonicmattercould
stillmakeupthedarkmatterifitwerealltiedupinbrowndwarfsorinsmall,densechunksofheavy
elements.Thesepossibilitiesareknownasmassivecompacthaloobjects,or"MACHOs".Butthemost
commonviewisthatdarkmatterisnotbaryonicatall,butthatitismadeupofother,moreexoticparticles
likeaxionsorWIMPS(WeaklyInteractingMassiveParticles).
RecentDiscoveries
June24,2014
June6,2014
May5,2014
April3,2014
November30,2012
April12,2012
April2,2012
March14,2012
March2,2012
January10,2012
January10,2012
MysteriousXraySignalIntriguesAstronomers(PerseusCluster)
CosmicCollisionintheBulletGroup(BulletGroup)
TheScaleoftheUniverse(NGC4605)
FermiDataTantalizewithNewCluestoDarkMatter
'DarkCore'MayNotbesoDarkAfterAll
DLSCLJ0916.2+2951:DiscoveryoftheMusketBallCluster
FermiObservationsofDwarfGalaxiesProvideNewInsightsonDarkMatter
MappingtheDarkMatterinAbell383
DarkMatterCoreDefiesExplanation
ElGordo
FarthestProtoclusterofGalaxiesEverSeen
