Ike
8/23/2006, 10:16 AM
http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/08/21/dark-matter-exists/
We knew it was there based on other observations, but now Astronomers using the CHANDRA X-Ray Observatory (a space based telescope) have mapped out regions of dark matter in a small segment of the sky (first time this has been done). Its pretty exciting stuff, especially due to the implications this has for my field of particle physics. You see, the only potential dark matter candidate that exists in the standard model of particle physics is the neutrino, which is very weakly interacting, abundant, and very light. Unfortunately though, other experiments have ruled out neutrinos as a dark matter candidate...it just doesn't jive with what we see in the cosmos.
This means theres something else out there in the particle world that we haven't seen yet...
We knew it was there based on other observations, but now Astronomers using the CHANDRA X-Ray Observatory (a space based telescope) have mapped out regions of dark matter in a small segment of the sky (first time this has been done). Its pretty exciting stuff, especially due to the implications this has for my field of particle physics. You see, the only potential dark matter candidate that exists in the standard model of particle physics is the neutrino, which is very weakly interacting, abundant, and very light. Unfortunately though, other experiments have ruled out neutrinos as a dark matter candidate...it just doesn't jive with what we see in the cosmos.
This means theres something else out there in the particle world that we haven't seen yet...