How Dark Matter Came to Matter

2014

The underlying theme of this thesis is 'missing mass' which extends back to John Michell's (1767) paper on the parallax of fixed stars. He foresaw that our galaxy was part of a system in our own part of the Universe, independent of other systems which existed at great distances. This understanding of the independence of our galaxy was necessary before its mass could be calculated and the final recognition that there was 'missing mass'. In 1933 Fritz Zwicky published a paper in Helvetica Physica ACTA in which he introduced the concept of 'dark matter' to explain the 'missing mass' in the Andromeda Nebulae, specifically its Coma Nebulae. This launched a series of studies which culminated, during the 1990s, in a number of international teams (including two from Australia) using gravitational microlensing to search for evidence of 'dark matter' in our Galaxy. This thesis examines these 'dark matter' studies and demonstrates that the co...

arXiv: History and Philosophy of Physics, 2019

Influenced by the renaissance of general relativity that came to pass in the 1950s, the character of cosmology fundamentally changed in the 1960s as it became a well-established empirical science. Although observations went to dominate its practice, extra-theoretical beliefs and principles reminiscent of methodological debates in the 1950s kept playing an important tacit role in cosmological considerations. Specifically, belief in cosmologies that modeled a “closed universe” based on Machian insights remained influential. The rise of the dark matter problem in the early 1970s serves to illustrate this hybrid methodological character of cosmological science.

NATO Science Series, 2005

A review of the study of dark matter is given, starting with earliest studies and finishing with the establishment of the standard Cold Dark Matter paradigm in mid 1980-s. Particular attention is given to the collision of the classical and new paradigms concerning the matter content of the Universe. Also the amount of baryonic matter, dark matter and dark energy is discussed using modern estimates.

Brazilian Journal of Physics, 2013

The dark matter story passed through several stages on its way from a minor observational puzzle to a major challenge for theory of elementary particles. I begin the review with the description of the discovery of the mass paradox in our Galaxy and in clusters of galaxies. First hints of the problem appeared already in 1930s and later more observational arguments were brought up, but the issue of the mass

Philosophy Unscrambles Dark Matter, 2019

Dark Matter was not matter at all. It was a theoretical brainteaser that finally philosophy had to unscramble. Scientists of today do not like this idea but philosophy is capable to deal with theoretical conundrums like dark matter. First chapter which is like a combat between mathematical counterintuitive physics and human commonsense, explains that human commonsense equipped with proper philosophical approach is capable to deal with the problem of dark matter.After making a case for philosophical method, this book then challenges the fundamental convictions of the established Cosmology and explains that even many visible galaxies are located at (light travel) distance of many hundred billion light years. There is no dark matter in any of the so-called 'proofs' of the existence of dark matter and MOND is also an engineered and artificial solution.This book has solved Galactic Rotation problem using Newton's theory and have shown that available theory was capable to explain the flat rotation curves of galaxies without necessitating the existence of dark matter. Thus theory itself is not challenged, blamed or modified. However understanding of scientists of their so-called counterintuitive theories is blamed. For example, to deal with the Galactic Rotation problem, the relevant part of Newton's Principia Mathematica was Proposition LXXIII, Theorem XXXIII. Whereas to deal with this problem, scientists had wrongfully applied Proposition LXXI, Theorem XXXI. Obviously, inaccurate application of available theory resulted in a fake problem and dark matter only served as a ghost solution to that bogus problem.Not only the Galactic Rotation, other so-called indicators of Dark Matter like Cluster Dynamics, Gravitational Lensing, Bullet Cluster, Dark Matter Ring, Fluctuations in CMB Temperature and Structures Formation etc. also have been explained without requiring the need for Dark Matter.Overall this book has presented a strong case of the failure of counterintuitive regime of established Cosmology and Physics.

arXiv (Cornell University), 2021

In this pedestrian approach I give my personal point of view on the various problems posed by dark matter in the universe. After a brief historical overview I discuss the various solutions stemming from high energy particle physics, and the current status of experimental research on candidate particles (WIMPS). In the absence of direct evidence, the theories can still be evaluated by comparing their implications for the formation of galaxies, clusters and superclusters of galaxies against astronomical observations. I conclude briefly with the attempts to circumvent the dark matter problem by modifying the laws of gravity.

Astrophysics, 2012

— This paper combines three empirical facts-existence of highs boson, dark matter and matter antimatter asymmetry. Decline in concentration of dark matter and rapid increasing rate of formation of dark energy has been discussed here. Most importantly, the observations of AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) regarding the incoming of gamma rays from galactic centre and observations of FGST (Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope) and reasons of out coming of such observations have been explained. Additionally, the root cause of declining rate of star formation has been discussed. The analysis is done on the basis of comparison between properties of missing mass with various annihilation products and the observations of NASA's FGST and that of AMS. Dark matter is the additional annihilation product apart from gamma particles produced by the annihilation of matter and antimatter at the time of big bang. The formation of different categories of dark matter depends upon the mass of particle annihilated with its antiparticle. Annihilation took after big bang was affected by higgs field. Annihilation of dark matter with its antiparticle generates high energy gamma particles which are responsible for the creation of concave curvature of space time generating repulsive effect which is basic property of dark energy.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2012

Within the standard cosmological scenario the Universe is found to be filled by obscure components (dark matter and dark energy) for ∼ 95% of its energy budget. In particular, almost all the matter content in the Universe is given by dark matter, which dominates the mass budget and drives the dynamics of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Unfortunately, dark matter and dark energy have not been detected and no direct or indirected observations have allowed to prove their existence and amount. For this reason, some authors have suggested that a modification of Einstein Relativity or the change of the Newton's dynamics law (within a relativistic and classical framework, respectively) could allow to replace these unobserved components. We will start discussing the role of dark matter in the early-type galaxies, mainly in their central regions, investigating how its content changes as a function of the mass and the size of each galaxy and few considerations about the stellar Initial mass function have been made. In the second part of the paper we have described, as examples, some ways to overcome the dark matter hypothesis, by fitting to the observations the modified dynamics coming out from general relativistic extended theories and the MOdyfied Newtonian dynamics (MOND).

The Open Astronomy Journal, 2012

Dark matter clustered in galaxies or clusters is usually interpreted as a new type of material substance subject only to gravitational force. Alternative explanations envisage deviations of the laws of gravity, of the equations of motion or of both from their commonly accepted form. The additional possibility is explored here that the true origin of the effects depicted as "dark matter" should be seen in connection with local violations of the inertia principle, resulting from the quantized granular structure of the cosmic inertial field. Within the framework of Fantappié-Arcidiacono Projective General Relativity (PGR), this quantization appears to be the dual of that of elementary particle masses, which has been suggested for a long time. This hypothesis does not appear to contradict known facts relating to galaxy rotation and to gravitational lensing of clusters. Furthermore, it introduces a new timescale for the coupling of space expansion with structure formation, which could be of interest in cosmology.