Research posted this week revealed an unexpected discrepancy between observations of dark matter concentrations.
HIGHLIGHTS
New observations conflicting with cutting-edge understanding of dark matter
Theoretical computer simulations of dark count may be incorrect
Dark matter is the invisible glue that holds stars together
Dark matter, mysterious invisible stuff that makes up most of the mass of galaxies including our own Milky Way, is confounding scientists again, with new observations of far away galaxies conflicting with the current understanding of its nature.
Research published this week revealed an sudden discrepancy between observations of dark matter concentrations in three massive clusters of galaxies encompassing trillions of stars and theoretical computer simulations of how darkish matter should be distributed.
"Either there is a missing ingredient in the simulations or we have made a fundamental unsuitable assumption about the nature of dark matter," Yale University astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan, a co-author of the study published in the journal Science, said on Friday.
Dark be counted is the invisible glue that holds stars together inside a galaxy. It also creates an invisible scaffold that enables galaxies to structure clusters. But it has very peculiar properties. It does not emit, absorb or reflect mild and does not interact with any known particles.
The bulk of the matter in the universe, about ninety six percent, is thought to be dark matter, with ordinary matter - the seen stuff that makes up stars, planets and people - a mere 4 percent.
Dark matter's presence is known only via its gravitational pull on visible matter in space. It differs from the similarly enigmatic and unseen dark energy, which is regarded a property of space and is driving the universe's accelerated expansion. Dark energy is repulsive. Dark matter attracts thru gravity.
The new study involved observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
When the light from distant sources like far off galaxies travels through matter such as another galaxy or a cluster of them, the light is deflected and bends - a phenomenon known as "gravitational lensing," said astrophysicist and study lead author Massimo Meneghetti of the Observatory of Astrophysics and Space Science in Bologna and National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy.
The new observations showed that gravitational lensing consequences produced by galaxies residing inside the huge galaxy clusters had been far stronger than current dark remember theory envisioned, suggesting an unexpectedly large concentration of darkish matter in these galaxies.
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