Dark Matter Exists!

[betazed]

I was hoping that someone would put up a thread on this, but since we are inundated with all the trivial incidents in this world we miss the only important ones!

We finally have visual confirmation of the long theorized dark matter (this wiki link obviously needs to be updated with new content owing to this). The news is all over the web so I will just provide a /. link for it. You can google about it.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Great news. I dont pretend to have a clue what the heck dark matter is, but I know its important. I just went to the Yahoo News Science section. Guess what the top headline there is?

Psycho killer raccoons terrorize Olympia

 

[IglooDame]

Hey, at least there are no 100+ post threads on Kevin Federline.

Anyway, I read the links, can you give us a sense of what this opens up?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

I think it helps with the 'Theory of Everything'.

 

[Tycoon101]

This is great! Now I can say to people that Space is not "empty" It is completely filled with... "something".


Did anyone catch what state Dark Matter is in, though? Is it a liquid, gas, plasma, or something else?

 

[Leatherneck]

This is great! Now I can say to people that Space is not "empty" It is completely filled with... "something".


Did anyone catch what state Dark Matter is in, though? Is it a liquid, gas, plasma, or something else?

It's dark and that's all that matters.

 

[IglooDame]

It's dark and that's all that matters.

How very insensitive of you. It is simply differently illuminated.

 

[Masquerouge]

Pretty cool stuff. So now we have confirmation on 30% of the mass of the Universe...

 

[betazed]

Anyway, I read the links, can you give us a sense of what this opens up?

Ok. I will try.

For a while we knew that the total visible matter content in the galaxies (and the galaxy clusters) did not add up. Their observed motion indicated that there must be much more matter that at least gravitationally interacts with the visible matter. But we cannot see this invisible matter. hence the name "dark matter".

But there was always a doubt; maybe gravity does not behave on large scales as it did in small scales (like the scale of say the solar system). So it might be possible to modify gravity on large scales (MOND theories) to accomodate the observed motion of galaxy and galaxy clusters wihtout taking recourse to dark matter.

So, how to show whether MOND theories are right or dark matter is right? Till now there was no clear cut evidence (only circumstantial).

Now, this particular evidence here is pretty much as clear as it gets. You can literally "see" the dark matter. It is a visible evidence that dark matter exists. What happened here is that a large scale collision of galaxies separated out the matter and dark matter so that while we see the actual matter in one place, the major gravitational sources are in another place. Not only that it also shows that dark matter is truly a new kind of animal that does not really interact with normal matter.

The implications are major.

first, it tells us that Einstein is still right (why am I not surprised? ) and we do not need to modify our theory of gravity (yet).

second, here is a finally visible evidence of something that we cannot explain. (believe it or not it is getting pretty difficult to find something that we cannot explain in physics). So now the particle physicists have the onus of trying to create dark matter in their accelerators (since now they cannot wish it away as just a theory) and quantum field theorists must try to modify the standard model to accomodate dark matter. hence, we now know a definite/correct path that future physics must proceed.

Hope that helps.

Did anyone catch what state Dark Matter is in, though? Is it a liquid, gas, plasma, or something else?

We have absolutely no frigging idea what it is, let alone what state of matter it is.

 

[IglooDame]

second, here is a finally visible evidence of something that we cannot explain. (believe it or not it is getting pretty difficult to find something that we cannot explain in physics). So now the particle physicists have the onus of trying to create dark matter in their accelerators (since now they cannot wish it away as just a theory) and quantum field theorists must try to modify the standard model to accomodate dark matter. hence, we now know a definite/correct path that future physics must proceed.

Hope that helps.

That last paragraph was the part that I hadn't heard/read anywhere else, thanks.

 

[Masquerouge]

I find the idea that "visible" matter makes up for only 4% of the total mass of the universe daunting... Talk about another trauma to our so-called "special" place in the universe: we're not at the center of the solar system, the solar system is not in the center of the galaxy, and we're not even made up of the most common matter in the universe!

 

[IglooDame]

I find the idea that "visible" matter makes up for only 4% of the total mass of the universe daunting... Talk about another trauma to our so-called "special" place in the universe: we're not at the center of the solar system, the solar system is not in the center of the galaxy, and we're not even made up of the most common matter in the universe!

I don't know, there are a few people I know for whom dark matter in their skulls would explain quite a bit.

 

[Masquerouge]

I don't know, there are a few people I know for whom dark matter in their skulls would explain quite a bit.

These people should definitely be vivisected, it will benefit both science and society.

 

[GinandTonic]

Excelent, from 5% of the universe being proved to exist to 25%. Good work fellas - have a beer and a take away - but back to work in the morning looking for the last 70% huh.

 

[emzie]

We could possibly modify gravity? I'm opening Dark Matter Weight Loss Clinic tommarow!

 

[Urederra]

i have to read the links more carefully.

So, could dark anti-matter exist?

 

[Masquerouge]

i have to read the links more carefully.

So, could dark anti-matter exist?

From what there is in the Wiki article, it would seem so: dark matter could be made of particles, and thus it would be possible to have anti-particles.
But it's called dark matter for a reason... we really don't know what it is
EDIT: and we actually know one dark matter particle, the neutrino. And the anti-neutrino exists. So that would be a more definite yes

 

[TheBladeRoden]

So how can we use this stuff to our advantage? What's the point of discovering something otherwise?

 

[El_Machinae]

I don't know, there are a few people I know for whom dark matter in their skulls would explain quite a bit.

Dude! I'm sitting right here.

I still want the solar-system sized supercolliders to test String Theory.

 

[Masquerouge]

So how can we use this stuff to our advantage? What's the point of discovering something otherwise?

Tsssk tsssk tsssk, fundamental research is not about turning a profit.

Now scientists KNOW that there is dark matter, so they will be able to focus their energy at unlocking its secrets. It might not give us a warp drive, but a better understanding at what the majority of the Universe is made of.
Someday, they might be a practical application. They might not. But that's not the point.