dark matter tagged posts

This is a dwarf galaxy with a starburst. Credit: UC Riverside

Astronomers use computer simulations based on theoretical models to explain massive star formation observed in dwarf galaxies. One of the main predictions of the current model of the creation of structures in the universe, known at the Lambda Cold Dark Mattermodel, is that galaxies are embedded in very extended and massive halos of dark matter surrounded by many thousands of smaller sub-halos also made from dark matter.

Around large galaxies, eg Milky Way, these dark matter sub-halos are large enough to host enough gas and dust to form small galaxies on their own, and some of these galactic companions, known as satellite galaxies, can be observed...

One of the CRESST detector modules. When illuminated with ultraviolet light, the scintillating inner shield glows brightly.

Highest sensitivity detector ever for very light dark matter elementary particles. The origin of matter in the universe has puzzled physicists for generations. Today, we know that matter only accounts for 5% of our universe; another 25% is constituted of dark matter. And the remaining 70% is made up of dark energy. Dark matter itself represents an unsolved riddle.

Physicists believe that such dark matter is composed of (as yet undefined) elementary particles that stick together thanks to gravitational force. In a study recently published in EPJ C, scientists from the CRESST-II research project use the phonon-light technique to detect dark matter...

These images of the Milky Way show the distribution of gas, at left, compared to the distribution of stars, at right, after the dwarf satellite disrupts the galaxy. Credit: Sukanya Chakrabarti/Rochester Institute of Technology

A trio of brightly pulsating stars at the outskirts of the Milky Way is racing away from the galaxy and may confirm a method for detecting dwarf galaxies dominated by dark matter and explain ripples in the outer disk of the galaxy. This new method to characterize dark matter marks the first real application of galactoseismology. Just as seismologists analyze waves to infer properties about Earth’s interior, Sukanya Chakrabarti, assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, uses waves in the galactic disk to map the interior structure and mass of galaxies.

This display shows a neutrino event candidate in the MicroBooNE detector. Credit: MicroBooNE

It detected its first neutrinos on Oct. 15, marking the beginning of detailed studies of these fundamental particles whose properties could be linked to dark matter, matter’s dominance over antimatter in the universe and the evolution of the entire cosmos since the Big Bang.

The MicroBooNE detector – a so-called time projection chamber filled with 170 tons of liquid argon – spotted neutrinos that were generated when proton beams from Fermilab’s accelerator complex slammed into a target a few hundred yards away from the detector.

Researchers from Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are developing tools for the acquisition of the experiment’s data and for the reconstruction of...