A study by Dartmouth researchers proposes a new theory about the origin of dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance thought to give the universe its shape and structure. They say the hypothetical force shaping the universe sprang from particles that rapidly condensed, like steam into water.
The researchers report in Physical Review Letters that dark matter could have formed in the early life of the universe from the collision of high-energy massless particles that lost their zip and took on an incredible amount of mass immediately after pairing up, according to their mathematical models.
Hypothetical dark matter is believed to exist based on observed gravitational effects that cannot be explained by visible matter. Scientists estimate that 85% of the universe’s total mass is dark matter.
A puzzling discovery in NGC 1068 shows a flood of neutrinos but weak gamma rays. Scientists now suspect helium atoms exploding near a black hole are the source, opening a whole new view of how particles behave in deep space.
Researchers have shown that abstract mathematical functions from the frontiers of theoretical physics have a real-world use in modeling gravitational waves
He told Newsweek that the unexpected result “upsets the usual interpretation of the nature of the CMB. It essentially means that we do not have solid evidence for a hot big bang. Taking the observed CMB and subtracting this foreground leaves too little for the hot big bang to be real.”
(The “hot big bang” refers to how the universe started in a hot, dense, state and has been cooling and expanding ever since.)
Kroupa added: “This shocking result means that we now need to revisit the very foundations of everything we know about cosmology, gravitation and the evolution of the Universe and how galaxies came to be.”
A new, highest-precision analytical result for solving the gravitational two-body problem of black hole or neutron star scattering reveals the emergence of Calabi–Yau manifolds in the solution to the radiated energy in these encounters.
For a while now, there has been a problematic mystery at the heart of the standard cosmological model. Although all observations support the expanding Universe model, observations of the early period of the cosmos give a lower rate of acceleration than more local observations. We call it the Hubble tension problem, and we have no idea how to solve it. Naturally, there have been several proposed ideas: what if general relativity is wrong; what if dark matter doesn’t exist; what if the rate of time isn’t uniform; heck, what if the entire Universe rotates. So, let’s add a new idea to the pile: what if dark matter evolves?
While there have been several models proposing an evolving dark energy, the idea of evolving dark matter hasn’t been widely considered. The reason for this is twofold. First, the observations we have of dark matter are excellent. They point to the presence of some kind of material that doesn’t interact strongly with light. The only major weak point is that we haven’t observed dark matter particles directly. Second, the vast majority of folk opposed to dark matter focus on eliminating it altogether through things like modified gravity. They figure dark matter is fundamentally wrong, not something to be tweaked. That makes this new idea rather interesting.
In this work, the authors look at both evolving dark energy and evolving dark matter and argue that the latter is a much better fit to observational data. The first thing they note is that the two models are somewhat related. Since the evolution of the cosmos depends in part on the ratio of energy density to matter density, a model with constant dark matter and evolving dark energy will always appear similar to a model with evolving dark matter and constant dark energy.
A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has solved the longstanding problem of a “dissonance” in gravitational waves emitted by a black hole.
Using high precision computing and a new theoretical physics framework, it was discovered that it was caused by a resonance between a pair of distinctive “modes” i.e. different ways in which a black hole can “ring.” The phenomenon offers new insights into the nascent field of black hole spectroscopy.
The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
A bold new quantum theory of gravity may finally bridge the long-standing rift between Einstein’s general relativity and quantum field theory. This potential “Theory of Everything” could answer some of the deepest mysteries in science—from black hole singularities to the origins of the universe—w
Our Universe is vast, ancient, and mysterious. It’s no surprise that in our quest to explore and explain it, many misconceptions have arisen.
The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare https://skl.sh/isaacarthur05231 Join this channel to get access to perks: / @isaacarthursfia. Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net. Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur. Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur. Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Listen or Download the audio of this episode from Soundcloud: Episode’s Audio-only version: / misconceptions-about-space-time-the-universe Episode’s Narration-only version: / misconceptions-about-space-time-the-univer… ▬ Common Misconceptions ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 0:00 Intro 2:34 Space is Huge 3:58 Space has no gravity 6:29 Space is not Dark 7:57 Space is Cold 12:14 Space is Empty 14:49 Explosive Decompression 16:31 No Noise in Space 17:48 Black Holes Suck 18:51 You can’t escape a Black Hole 22:37 Nothing goes faster than light 24:23 The Edge of The Universe is 13 Billion Light Years Away 27:23 The Universe has no Edge 29:31The Universe has no Center 30:13 We aren’t the Center of the Universe 32:48 Earth Orbits the Sun 35:34 The Sun is a fiery Yellow Dwarf 38:29 Time on Spaceships runs very slow 40:17 The Universe ends with the last stars Credits: Misconceptions About Space, Time & The Universe Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur Episode 394, May 11, 2023 Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur Editors: Briana Brownell David McFarlane Graphics: Jeremy Jozwik Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator. Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264 Reddit: / isaacarthur. Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Listen or Download the audio of this episode from Soundcloud: Episode’s Audio-only version: / misconceptions-about-space-time-the-universe. Episode’s Narration-only version: / misconceptions-about-space-time-the-univer…
▬ Common Misconceptions ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 0:00 Intro. 2:34 Space is Huge. 3:58 Space has no gravity. 6:29 Space is not Dark. 7:57 Space is Cold. 12:14 Space is Empty. 14:49 Explosive Decompression. 16:31 No Noise in Space. 17:48 Black Holes Suck. 18:51 You can’t escape a Black Hole. 22:37 Nothing goes faster than light. 24:23 The Edge of The Universe is 13 Billion Light Years Away. 27:23 The Universe has no Edge. 29:31The Universe has no Center. 30:13 We aren’t the Center of the Universe. 32:48 Earth Orbits the Sun. 35:34 The Sun is a fiery Yellow Dwarf. 38:29 Time on Spaceships runs very slow. 40:17 The Universe ends with the last stars.
Credits: Misconceptions About Space, Time & The Universe. Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur. Episode 394, May 11, 2023 Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur.