Lecture 23: Dark Matter

opening numbers: “Orbiting” by The Weepies and “Supersymmetry” by Arcade Fire

Homework Quiz

Dark matter is inferred to exist because

A. the Milky Way is full of dark patches

B. we observe its gravitational effects on visible matter
C. it causes the expansion of the Universe to speed up
D. without it the cosmic microwave background wouldn’t exist
E. of a global scientific conspiracy
Homework Quiz

Dark matter is inferred to exist because

A. the Milky Way is full of dark patches

B. we observe its gravitational effects on visible matter
C. it causes the expansion of the Universe to speed up
D. without it the cosmic microwave background wouldn’t exist
E. of a global scientific conspiracy
Unseen Influences: The Dark Universe

Dark Matter: An undetected form of mass that emits little or

no light, but whose existence we infer from its gravitational
influence

Dark Energy: An unknown form of energy that seems to be

causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate (we’ll
discuss this next time)
 Total mass:
orbital velocity law ~1012 MSun
r v2
Menclosed =
G

v = 220 km s 1
r = 28000 light years
Mass within the
Sun’s orbit:
1.0 × 1011 MSun
Solar System rotation curve Milky Way rotation curve

mass in the solar system is concentrated; mass in the Milky Way keeps growing
does not increase as radius increases as the radius increases: dark matter
The visible
portion of a
galaxy lies
deep in the
heart of a
large halo of
dark matter.
Conceptual Quiz

Approximately what fraction of

the Milky Way’s mass is dark matter?
A. 10%
B. 20%
C. 50%
D. 90%
E. 0%, the outside of a Milky Way bar is milk chocolate, not dark chocolate
Conceptual Quiz

Approximately what fraction of

the Milky Way’s mass is dark matter?
A. 10%
B. 20%
C. 50%
D. 90%
E. 0%, the outside of a Milky Way bar is milk chocolate, not dark chocolate
We can
measure the
rotation
curves of
other spiral
galaxies using
the Doppler
shift of the
21-cm line of
atomic
hydrogen.
dark matter in other galaxies:
spiral galaxy rotation curves
Spiral galaxies all tend to have flat rotation curves,
indicating large amounts of dark matter.

Vera Rubin
What is the evidence for dark matter in
clusters of galaxies?
 We can measure the
velocities of galaxies
in a cluster from their
Doppler shifts.

The mass we find from galaxy motions

in a cluster is about 50 times larger than
the mass in stars!
Fritz Zwicky
Clusters contain large
amounts of hot gas
that emits X-rays.

Temperature of hot
gas (particle motions)
tells us cluster mass:

85% dark matter

13% hot gas
2% stars
Gravitational lensing, the bending of light rays by gravity, can
also tell us a cluster’s mass.
All three methods of measuring cluster mass (galaxy velocities, X-
ray gas temperature, and gravitational lensing) indicate similar
amounts of dark matter in galaxy clusters.
Reading Quiz

Which of the following is not a good way to

measure the total mass of a cluster of galaxies?

A. add up the total mass of all the stars in the galaxies in the cluster
B. measure the speeds of the galaxies as they move around in the cluster
C. measure the temperature of the hot X-ray emitting gas in the cluster
D. observe the gravitational lensing of galaxies behind the cluster
E. ask Fritz Zwicky

M11 M67
Reading Quiz

Which of the following is not a good way to

measure the total mass of a cluster of galaxies?

A. add up the total mass of all the stars in the galaxies in the cluster
B. measure the speeds of the galaxies as they move around in the cluster
C. measure the temperature of the hot X-ray emitting gas in the cluster
D. observe the gravitational lensing of galaxies behind the cluster
E. ask Fritz Zwicky

M11 M67
Conceptual Quiz

Which of the following is not evidence for dark matter?

A. galaxies in clusters are moving faster than they should be
B. the X-ray emitting gas in galaxy clusters is hotter than it should be
C. stars and gas in the outer parts of spiral galaxies
are orbiting slower than they should be
D. the gravitational bending of light by galaxies and
clusters is stronger than it should be
E.
Conceptual Quiz

Which of the following is not evidence for dark matter?

A. galaxies in clusters are moving faster than they should be
B. the X-ray emitting gas in galaxy clusters is hotter than it should be
C. stars and gas in the outer parts of spiral galaxies
are orbiting slower than they should be
D. the gravitational bending of light by galaxies and
clusters is stronger than it should be
E.
 What have we learned?

• What is the evidence for dark matter?

–Rotation curves of galaxies are flat, indicating that
most of their matter lies outside their visible
regions.
–Masses of clusters of galaxies measured from
galaxy motions, temperature of hot gas, and
gravitational lensing all indicate that the vast
majority of matter in clusters is dark.
 Does dark matter really exist?
the Bullet Cluster

The gravitational lensing signal is not lined up with the

majority of the normal matter (the “pink” hot gas). It is hard
to have this happen without dark matter.
 Our Options

1. Dark matter really exists, and we are observing the

effects of its gravitational attraction.

2. Something is wrong with our understanding of

gravity, causing us to mistakenly infer the existence of
dark matter.

Because gravity is so well tested, most

astronomers prefer option #1.
 What could the dark matter be?
Most likely explanation:
Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMPs)

supporting evidence from early Universe (deuterium

abundance, CMB fluctuations)

alternate models (like MACHOs) ruled out

dark matter can’t be made of protons, neutrons, electrons,
etc.

might be possible to create dark matter in a particle collider,

like the LHC
 Why Believe in WIMPs?

• There’s not enough ordinary matter.

• WIMPs could be left over from Big Bang.

• Models involving WIMPs explain how galaxy formation

works.
 What have we learned?

• What might dark matter be made of ?

–There does not seem to be enough normal ordinary
matter to account for all the dark matter, so most
astrophysicists suspect that dark matter is made of
weakly interacting massive particles (although they
have not yet been discovered).
 Cosmic Contents Inferred from CMB
• Overall geometry is flat.
– Total mass + energy has a “critical density”.
• Ordinary matter is ~ 4.4% of total energy.
• Total matter is ~ 26% of total energy.
– Dark matter is ~ 22% of total.
– Dark energy is ~ 74% of total.
• Age is 13.7 billion years.
Patterns observed by Planck telescope show us
the “seeds” of structure in the universe.
Conceptual Quiz

Which of the following explains the fluctuations

seen in the cosmic microwave background?

A. some parts of the Universe were at a slightly higher temperature than others at the
time when the CMB was formed
B. some parts of the Universe were at a slightly higher density than
others at the time when the CMB was formed
C. inflation expands the size of quantum fluctuations in the early Universe
to the size of the fluctuations seen in the CMB
D. all of the above
E. aliens are sending signals to the Planck satellite to confuse us
Conceptual Quiz

Which of the following explains the fluctuations

seen in the cosmic microwave background?

A. some parts of the Universe were at a slightly higher temperature than others at the
time when the CMB was formed
B. some parts of the Universe were at a slightly higher density than
others at the time when the CMB was formed
C. inflation expands the size of quantum fluctuations in the early Universe
to the size of the fluctuations seen in the CMB
D. all of the above
E. aliens are sending signals to the Planck satellite to confuse us
 CMB fluctuations are seeds of galaxies
fluctuations are at the level of one part in 105

t = 380,000 yr

t = 13.7 Gyr

gravity turns these seeds into the simulation of structure formation

large-scale structure of galaxies
 CMB fluctuations are seeds of galaxies
fluctuations are at the level of one part in 105

t = 380,000 yr

t = 13.7 Gyr

gravity turns these seeds into the simulation of structure formation

large-scale structure of galaxies
Seeding the Large-Scale Structure of Galaxies

Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Conceptual Quiz

Which region in the early Universe

was most likely to become a galaxy?

A. A region with slightly higher density than average

B. A region with exactly the average density
C. A region with slightly lower density than average
D. A region made of antimatter
E. A region voted “most likely to become a galaxy” in high school
Conceptual Quiz

Which region in the early Universe

was most likely to become a galaxy?

A. A region with slightly higher density than average

B. A region with exactly the average density
C. A region with slightly lower density than average
D. A region made of antimatter
E. A region voted “most likely to become a galaxy” in high school
Gravity of dark matter is what caused protogalactic clouds to
contract early in time.
Gravity from
dark matter is
pulling things
together.

After correcting
for Hubble’s law,
we can see that
galaxies are
flowing toward
the densest
regions of space.
Maps of galaxy positions reveal extremely large structures:
superclusters and voids.
 Time in billions of years
0.5 2.2 5.9 8.6 13.7

13 35 70 93 140

Size of expanding box in millions of light-years

Models show that gravity of dark matter pulls mass into denser
regions—the universe grows lumpier with time.
Structures in galaxy maps look very similar to the ones found in
models in which dark matter is WIMPs.
Dark Matter & Galaxy computer simulation
by Alyson Brooks
 What have we learned?

• What is the role of dark matter in structure

formation?
– Galaxies can form in regions of the universe where
the gravity of dark matter is strong enough to stop
the expansion and pull gas into protogalactic clouds.
– The gravity of dark matter arranges galaxies into
large-scale structures including gigantic chains and
sheets that surround great voids.