LinkNotes: Dark Matter

Prototype Developed To Detect Dark Matter

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2009) — A team of researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) and the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS, in France) has developed a "scintillating bolometer" -- a device that the scientists will use in efforts to detect the dark matter of the universe, and which has been tested at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Huesca, Spain.

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Image comment: This is the BGO scintillator crystal (right, blue) and germanium disc (left)
Image credits: IAS / SINC

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Image comment: This is the experimental arrangement in the Underground Laboratory Canfranc
Image credits: IAS / SINC

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Dark matter

In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter that is undetectable by its emitted radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter.^[1] According to present observations of structures larger than galaxies, as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter and dark energy could account for the vast majority of the mass in the observable universe.

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Strong gravitational lensing as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in Abell 1689 indicates the presence of dark matter

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3D map of the large-scale distribution of dark matter, reconstructed from measurements of weak gravitational lensing with the Hubble Space Telescope.

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Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe

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Bolometer

A bolometer is a device for measuring the energy of incident electromagnetic radiation. It was invented in 1878 by the American astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley.

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* Mas información: vídeo de la noticia

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Dark matter search

Sources:

2008-11-07

Dark Matter

clipped from thefutureofthings.com

Galaxy Clusters Collision Captured

An international team of astronomers, led by UCSB and Stanford astronomers, captured the collision of two galaxy clusters using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Like the Bullet Cluster collision detected two years ago, this collision supports the existence of dark matter, an enigmatic form of matter accounting for about a quarter of the matter in the universe, and furthers our understanding of it.

A composite image shows the
galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, also known
as the "bullet cluster." This cluster was
formed after the collision of two
large clusters of galaxies, the most
energetic event known in
the universe since the Big Bang
(Credit: NASA)

A powerful collision of galaxy clusters
has been captured by NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray
Observatory. This clash of clusters
provides striking evidence for dark
matter and insight into
its properties (Credit: NASA)

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British scientists shed light on mysterious dark matter that makes up most of our universe

A computer simulated image of the glow of dark matter. Scientists believe it lies at the centre of our galaxy

The researchers have developed a system that shows the formation and evolution of a galaxy like the Milky Way, which points to where scientists should look to spot dark matter.

The findings mean that NASA's Fermi Telescope should search in the part of the galaxy where the researchers predict dark matter should glow in 'a smoothly varying and characteristic pattern' where it is easier to see, the researchers said.

That location is near the sun, just off the center of the Milky Way, Frenk said.

NASA scientists prepare the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for launch in June 2008

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Where will new Fermi telescope find dark matter?

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In the new simulation, the signal-to-noise ratio of dark matter from the Milky Way's halo (left) was much larger than that from smaller clumps of dark matter (right) (Illustration: Virgo Consortium)

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