Dark matter’s history has been a
game of cat and mouse.
The most elusive stuff in the Universe is hard to see, but not undetectable.
Since the early
half of the 20th century, astronomers have
been baffled by certain stars that they previously had thought they
understood. Fritz Zwicky, an astronomer
in the 1930's, analyzed a cluster of
galaxies and noticed that not only were
they zooming around each other like a
swarm of bees about a hive, but that they
were moving abnormally fast.
If a bee is on a CD, spinning around inside a computer, the bee has to hang on for dear
life, or else he will be flung off the disc. By hanging on, he is, from an outside point of
view, in fact pulling himself inward, keeping in a circular motion around the
circumference of the CD. Fritz Zwicky’s galaxies were those clinging bees. The force of
gravity is what keeps those galaxies from flying apart from one another under normal
circumstances. However, the galaxies that Zwicky surveyed did not seem to have enough gravity
to keep them from zooming away from the hive!
If there was not enough visible mass in the cluster of galaxies
to keep them together, was there something missing?
This stuck out as an almost impossible
answer to astronomers. Then in 2006
Douglas Clowe and his team presented evidence of dark
matter by analyzing the Bullet Cluster of galaxies.
Because the galaxy clusters themselves were
colliding, they were being separated from the dust that
permeates them, dust which happens to make up a
majority of their mass. Creating a map of the area
showed that two large wells of gravity existed
completely independent of the actual galaxies.
"Coma Galaxy Cluster" by Jim Misti
Gravitational effects have led
Astronomers to estimate that the majority of the matter in the Universe is of an unknown form
that is impossible to detect directly with telescopes. The existence of dark matter also comprises an important part
of leading theories of the original formation of galaxies and their subsequent evolution,
as well as the anisotropic structure of the cosmic microwave background.
MACHO's and WIMP's
So where is the "missing mass" hiding?
Modern attempts to resolve the mystery divides researchers mostly into two camps;
the MACHO's and the WIMP's.
The first acronym stands for Massive Compact Halo Objects. These researchers are trying
to determine if the halo of material surrounding our galaxy might contain
lots of Jupiter-sized marbles, or other forms of normal matter that is hard to detect.
At that distance these objects would be too small and dim to see,
but if there are enough of them their gravity would make a difference. The second acronym
stands for Weak Interacting Massive Particles. These researchers are investigating the
possibility that the galaxies are filled with exotic subatomic particles that constitute
the missing mass. So far, the evidence for WIMP theories is generating the greatest
level of confidence from the scientific community as our most likely avenue to understanding
Some competing theories have been presented that attempt to reconcile observations without proposing
the existence of dark matter. These include alternative theories of gravity, and explanations
from the perspective of quantum mechanics. There are significant problems that will have to be
overcome for these alternatives to gain general acceptance.
The history of dark matter is still unfolding. Much of the science is new and every year more
data is flowing in. From orbiting infrared telescopes, to deep underground
water tanks hunting for exotic particles, the mystery is unraveling.