Comments on: Dark matter’s tendrils revealed

By: Bri

Bri — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 18:09:14 +0000

I’m suprised no one wants to answer this question. There is a tremendous amount of missing mass. Most of the mass necessary to hold a galaxy together just isn’t there! If you increase the effect of the Higgs field enough to replace this missing mass, then all the stars would collapse into black holes. Even small increases of strength would change the spectral absorbsion lines, as light( no mass) reacted with the denser matter. Dark matter works over long distance, not atomically. That’s why they call it dark matter. Ordinary matter isn’t affected, other than over vast distances, as it holds galaxies from flying apart. Higgs field affects anything that has mass, so it’s measurable. We can detect it’s effects, so it’s not “dark”. It’s because of it’s effects that we new how to find it, and it’s because of dark matter effects, that we know where to look for dark matter. Just like it was for the higgs, the hunt is on for dark matter!

By: Bri

Bri — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 13:20:16 +0000

If Newtons laws work on earth, but not in space, to alter them to account for the observed problem, seems even more of a fudge factor. I thought the Higgs field was the “force”. Without it, everything would be zipping around like light. Passing through everything else. No galaxies, no stars. Not even a chance to pack, protons, nuetrons, and electrons into an atomic package, from solar fusion! Feel the force Luke!

By: Mortran

Mortran — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:10:13 +0000

I’d be rather willing to believe in the “dark side of the Force” than in dark matter.
The truth is our current equations don’t work for the large scale structure of the universe. So scientists simply add an unknown variable, so they can keep using Newton’s gravity law. However dark matter has not been observed, detected or reasonably described.
If we need 10 times the matter than we can actually observe to keep Newton’s equation working, then the equation is probably wrong.
It’s just that simple.
No dark matter, no dark energy,. If the gravitational constant is not a constant when it comes to large scale distances, then it could also explain the phenomenon. And we don’t need to invent invisible things.

Saying that dark matter is responsible for the vast majority of mass in the universe and holds the galaxies together is not better then saying it is some supernatural god who does it. Neither of them can be observed.
In fact Obi Wan Kenobi’s explanation about the “Force” from Star Wars sounds more convincing : “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”
Dark matter, the Force – it’s more or less the same pseudo-scientific babble.

By: George

George — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 00:57:19 +0000

A Big Crunch is required for a Chardin-Tiplerian Omega Point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point#Tipler

By: Marcos Marin

Marcos Marin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:34:29 +0000

You don’t.
But hey, you are contradicting yourself. If you say dark matter is matter (as much as anything physicists can or cannot detect will be of course) then why would such smart people need to turn it into “matter”?!

By: Marcos Marin

Marcos Marin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:31:50 +0000

You were subjected to too much news out of the higgs boson “discovery”. :)
No, this would be too ephemeral.

By: Marcos Marin

Marcos Marin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:28:50 +0000

On the contrary. It keeps galaxies from falling apart. The engineering part was closer though. :)

By: Marcos Marin

Marcos Marin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:26:49 +0000

Yes.

By: rob falgiano

rob falgiano — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:48:37 +0000

@ Khannea. I have sometimes wondered if dark matter has been ‘engineered’ by highly evolved intelligent beings for the purpose of preventing the universe from slowing it’s expansion. Especially if we were headed for a “Big Crunch” as the result of the distribution of observable matter. I realize this is just idle speculation, but it makes for a nice sci-fi premise.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:33:03 +0000

When I first started to read the article, I was under the impression that dark matter had actually been observed directly as it was seemingly implied, at least to me anyways. However, apparently it was deduced that once the visible portion had been elimimated, the remainder was dark matter.

However, is it still true that we still have no clue as to what it could possibly be?

By: Gerald Larson

Gerald Larson — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 16:58:21 +0000

I have an ignorant question for any knowledgable physicist. Since we know the Higgs field is real, can dark matter be explained as density fluctuations of Bosons imparting more mass to the observable matter? In other words, the matter we observe in these filaments simply has more mass than we would expect because the Higgs field is more dense?
I am not a physisist so perhaps this sounds dumb?

By: Khannea Suntzu

Khannea Suntzu — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:10:17 +0000

Hmm maybe someone should do a video of a quick moving traveller that crosses the intergalactic at tens of thousands Ly per second, in which you can see the gravitational lensing caused by dark matter halos. This would be quite insightful allowing an intuitive grasp of these mass clouds, relative to visible galactic bodies.

Also – dark matter is matter right? If advanced civilizations would be able to harvest this substance we could be arguing a Kardashev-IV new classification for a civilization, where a polity of intelligent beings would be able to churn up (and turn in to matter?) dark matter cloud particles.
Question remains, how do you create a big and impenetrable enough scoop to funnel in such loosely scattered material…?