DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY AND
DETECTION METHODS
UDAY NAMBEESAN (2140311)
DARK MATTER:-
Dark matter is a substance or hypothetical form of matter that doesn’t interact with light or
electromagnetic field. The first evidence for dark matter came when Caltech’s Fritz Zwicky
used the Mount Wilson Observatory to measure the visible mass of cluster of galaxies and
observed that it was much too small to prevent the galaxies from escaping the gravitational
pull of the cluster. Hence, it was something additional which was acting like a glue and
holding together the cluster of galaxies. He named this substance the dark matter or dunkle
Materie in German. [1] (Clavin, 2020)
DARK MATTER IN MILKY WAY GALAXY:-
Dark matter makes up to 85% of the contents of the universe which means that stars, planets,
dust makes up to 15% of the universe matter. Scientists have been able to detect dark matter
with the help of gravity. This is because dark matter interacts with gravity. These galaxies
rotate so fast that in some cases, the gravitational effect of visible matter is not sufficient
enough to prevent the galaxies from flying apart. Hence, dark matter is the glue which holds
these galaxies together. It is deduced that most of the galaxies contain dark matter. For the
Milky Way Galaxy, the halo of dark matter is thought to extend out past the halo of stars
surrounding the galaxies main stars as well as the disc.
The dark tilted shape of halo of Milky Way Galaxy indicated the presence of dark matter also.
If the galaxy was evolving on its own, it would have had nice, spherical halo with flat disc.
Calculating the shape of the dark matter disc around the Milky Way also reveals some of the
properties of dark matter. [2] (Lea, The Milky Way is warped, and it might be the work of
dark matter, 2023)
DARK ENERGY:-
Dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy proposed by physicists to explain why the
universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. Dark energy is like anti-gravity force. It drives
the cosmic objects away than bringing them together like gravity. Dark energy accounts for
between 68% and 72% of the total energy and matter in the universe, thereby heavily
dominating both dark matter and everyday matter. The following points discusses more about
dark matter:-
a) Necessary part of universe:- Around 25 years ago, it was found out that the Universe is
expanding and this expansion increases with time. This process has been taking place since
5000 million years ago yet we do not have a concrete explanation for this expansion. It has to
be some sort of substance powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity which stops
further contraction and results in expansion. In 1999, Michael Turner named this substance
dark energy. Without this dark energy, the expansion of the Universe would not have been
possible. As a result, the Universe would have collapsed, reducing the distances between
many other galaxies.
b) Mysterious:- Since dark energy cannot be measured directly, one cannot determine the
composition of dark energy. Hence, performing experiments on finding more about dark
energy is quite challenging. Also, one cannot say how the dark energy is changing with time
and its effect in the expansion of the universe. Hence, there is lot more to know about dark
matter in order to predict the future of the Universe.
c) Connection with the Big Bang:- The cosmological models predicts an expanding
universe, which is due to the event of Big Bang. But the current expansion is not constant
with time, instead it is increasing which leads to the contribution of different factor which
was not present during early stages of the Universe at the time when the galaxies were
formed. [3] (Lea, 2022)
Timeline of the Universe based on the Big Bang and inflation models
(Image credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team)
DETECTION METHODS:-
Indirect Detection :- In this method, few steps are covered for finding dark matter. In order
to find the dark matter annihilations, two factors have to be considered which are place and
distance from Earth. The most common place of finding dark matter is the center of the
galaxies and the nearest galaxy to Earth is Milky Way Galaxy so combining both of these, we
can deduce that the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is the optimum place for locating dark
matter. The few methods in this are:-
a) Looking for Neutrinos:- For
searching neutrinos, we will
require huge detectors. The first
one is called Super Kamiokande
Detector in Japan. The another
detector is IceCube Detector in
Antartica. It is a cubic kilometer
of ice. Around 4,800 detectors
are embedded throughout to
register the light generated when
the neutrino reacts with the ice.
The neutrinos comes from the
galactic center of the Milky Way Galaxy which then interacts with these detectors.
b) Searching for Gamma Rays:- Another method is to find gamma rays. Some facilities to
look for gamma rays are ground based telescopes and some are satellites. The most powerful
detector is the Large Area Telescope in Fermi satellite. These detectors have found gamma
rays from the center of Milky Way but it is impossible to identify these gamma rays as having
dark matter origin. Even pulsars which are rotating neutron stars can make gamma rays.
Hence, these indirect methods are really hard in terms of finding a definitive signal.
c) Using a large particle accelerator:- The large particle accelerators like Large Hadron
Collider in Europe smashes the high energy particles and has a possibility of creating dark
matter or dark antimatter. But the problem is that the dark matter does not interact with the
electromagnetism or any strong force, so even if the dark matter is created, it goes
undetected. Hence, these
indirect methods are way of
finding out about dark matter
but cannot give us a certainty
about the characteristics of
the dark matter and how it
behaves with different
particles and its time-
changing mechanism. [4]
(Lincoln, 2023)
Conclusion:- The mysterious dark matter and dark energy remain significant of the
universe’s structure and expansion. These detection methods unravel the mysteries of such
objects which helps in understanding the evolution of the cosmos and the elements present in
it.
References
[1]
Clavin, W. (2020, October 23). Where is Dark Matter Hiding? Retrieved from Caltech magazine:
https://magazine.caltech.edu/post/where-is-dark-matter-hiding
[3] Lea, R. (2022, November 24). What is dark energy? Retrieved from SPACE.com:
https://www.space.com/dark-energy-what-is-it
[2] Lea, R. (2023, October 15). The Milky Way is warped, and it might be the work of dark matter.
Retrieved from SPACE.com: https://www.space.com/milky-way-galaxy-warp-dark-matter
[4] Lincoln, D. (2023, January 10). The Three Approaches for Detecting Dark Matter. Retrieved from
WONDRIUM DAILY: https://www.wondriumdaily.com/the-three-approaches-for-detecting-
dark-matter/
