1. Dark Matter, Dark Energy And The Fate Of The Universe
Chapter 18
Dark Matter, Dark Energy And The Fate Of The Universe

2. The Case for Dark Matter
Rotation Curve for the Solar System (This is what we expect to see from the laws of Gravity applied to all the visible mass)
Rotation Curve for the Milky Way Galaxy (unexpected)
What we expect from only the visible mass

3. The matter lying farther than our Sun from the galactic center orbits the galaxy at unexpectedly high speeds.
Conclusion: Much of our galaxy’s mass lies beyond in the outskirts of the galaxy, yet most of the light comes from the stars close to the galactic center.

4. Dark Matter distribution relative to luminous matter

5. Dark Matter in Galaxies
Light from luminous matter can be measured and attributed to stellar masses, emission nebulae, etc. (matter that is emitting detectable radiation)
From the Rotation curves of spiral galaxies and measuring the Doppler shifts, a good estimate of the total mass of the galaxy can be obtained.
Astronomers have found that the luminous mass is only a small fraction of the total mass of the galaxy.

6. Measuring the rotation of a spiral galaxy with 21-cm line of atomic hydrogen.
Blue shifted lines show how fast that side is rotating toward us
Red shifted lines show how fast that side is moving away from us

7. A rotation curve shows the orbital velocities of stars or gas clouds at different distances from a galaxy’s center

8. Actual Rotation Curves of Four Spiral Galaxies
Vera Rubin

9. Dark Matter in Galactic Clusters
Galaxies occur in clusters and superclusters.
We can try to determine the total mass. Then subtract out the luminous mass to estimate the dark matter mass.
The total mass of these clusters can be measured by three methods:
Measure the speeds of galaxies orbiting the center of a cluster.
Measure and analyze the X-ray emission from hot gas between the galaxies in a cluster.
Observing how light is deflected by the cluster’s gravity.

10. The Coma Cluster of galaxies seen in visible light
Intra-Cluster Medium – X-ray observations of hot gas that fills the intergalactic space between galaxies in a cluster
A map of X-ray emission from the Coma Cluster, showing the intra-cluster medium
The Coma Cluster of galaxies seen in visible light

11. Gravitational Lensing - Hubble Space Telescope picture of a galaxy cluster acting as a gravitational lens.
Blue ovals are multiple images of a single galaxy behind the cluster’s center
Yellow elliptical galaxies are cluster members

12. How gravitational lensing works
A Cluster’s powerful gravity bends light from background galaxies.
This produces multiple images.

13. HST- Cluster Abell The thin elongated galaxies are the images of background galaxies distorted by the cluster’s gravity

14. What is Dark Matter?
We do not yet know, however some suggested possibilities are:
Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs)
trillions of faint red stars, brown dwarfs, Jupiter sized objects left over from the galaxy’s formation and residing in the halo.
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs)
Hypothetical particles that have yet to be discovered, which are believed to be similar to neutrinos but considerably more massive. (most likely candidate)

15. Structure Formation
Since 80%* of the matter in the universe is now believed to be in the form of “Dark Matter”, it is likely that the overall structure of the universe was/is significantly influenced by it.
Not counting the “Dark Energy”
contribution.

16. Making Maps of The Universe
Margaret Geller and John Huchra
Interview with Dr. Geller:
Dr. Geller

17. The Great Wall

18. 400 Mpc survey H = 65km/s/Mpc

19. Slices show galaxies in thin fan-like swaths.
Each dot represents a galaxy
Earth-Milky Way

21. Six frames from a supercomputer simulation of structure formation for a region the size of our Local Group

22. Fate of the Universe

23. A finite universe, oscillating universe, and infinite universe

24. As density increases, deceleration increases

25. Accelerating Universe?
Dark Energy??
Dark matter + Dark Energy are believed to make up 95% of the universe.
Recent Observations

26. The expanding universe probably originated in an explosion called the Big Bang between 12 and 18 billion years ago.
Will the universe end?
Present observations suggest that it will expand forever.

27. What caused the Big Bang?
Where did the energy come from?
Why did it happen?
Unknown…

28. Dark matter and Dark Energy together are expected to be what percentage of the total mass-energy in the universe?
65%
75%
85%
95%
100%

29. Saul Perlmutter Interview
End of Section
Saul Perlmutter Interview