Tel Aviv University: The mystery of dark matter

A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) has predicted, for the first time, the groundbreaking results that can be obtained from detecting radio waves coming to us from the early Universe. A look 100 million years after the assumed ‘Big Bang’.

The findings show that during the cosmic dark ages, dark matter formed dense clumps throughout the Universe, which pulled in hydrogen gas and caused it to emit intense radio waves. This leads to a novel method to use the measured radio signals to help resolve the mystery of ‘dark matter’, explained the press release of TAU.

“Unlike normal matter, dark matter does not interact with the electromagnetic force. This means it does not absorb, reflect or emit light, making it extremely hard to spot. In fact, researchers have been able to infer the existence of dark matter only from the gravitational effect it seems to have on visible matter. Dark matter seems to outweigh visible matter roughly six to one, making up about 27% of the universe. Here’s a sobering fact: The matter we know and that makes up all stars and galaxies only accounts for 5% of the content of the universe!”, writes CERN.

Radio Telescope on the Moon

The researchers note in the said press release of TAU that the cosmic dark ages (the period just before the formation of the first stars) can be studied by detecting radio waves that were emitted from the hydrogen gas that filled the universe at that time.

While a simple TV antenna can detect radio waves, the specific waves from the early Universe are blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere. They can only be studied from space, particularly the moon, which offers a stable environment, free of any interference from the Earth’s atmosphere or from radio communications.

Of course, putting a telescope on the moon is no simple matter, but we are seeing an international space race in which many countries are trying to return to the moon with space probes and, eventually, astronauts.

There is more ‘dark’

But it’s not only about ‘dark matter’. We have ‘dark energy’ and ‘dark force‘, too. Again, CERN on ‘dark energy’:

“Dark energy makes up approximately 68% of the universe and appears to be associated with the vacuum in space. It is distributed evenly throughout the universe, not only in space but also in time – in other words, its effect is not diluted as the universe expands. The even distribution means that dark energy does not have any local gravitational effects, but rather a global effect on the universe as a whole.”

Finally, the ‘dark flow seems to pull the whole universe in a direction. So, someone is pulling the universe. Who or what is outside the universe which can pull at all?

The study was led by Prof. Rennan Barkana from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy. It included his PhD student Sudipta Sikder as well as collaborators from Japan, India, and the UK. Their novel conclusions have been published in the prestigious journal Nature Astronomy.

Based on the press release of TAU. Selected, shortened, regrouped and lectured by VonNaftali. Augmented by chapters on dark force, dark energy and dark pull by VonNaftali. Pics AI-generated. Illustrative.