Dark Energy, Dark Matter

In the early 1990s, one thing was fairly certain about the expansion of the
universe. It might have enough energy density to stop its expansion and
recollapse, it might have so little energy density that it would never stop
expanding, but gravity was certain to slow the expansion as time went on.
Granted, the slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the universe had
to slow. The universe is full of matter and the attractive force of gravity pulls all
matter together. Then came 1998 and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
observations of very distant supernovae that showed that, a long time ago, the
universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So the expansion
of the universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has
been accelerating. No one expected this, no one knew how to explain it. But
something was causing it.

Eventually theorists came up with three sorts of explanations. Maybe it was a

result of a long-discarded version of Einstein's theory of gravity, one that
contained what was called a "cosmological constant." Maybe there was some
strange kind of energy-fluid that filled space. Maybe there is something wrong
with Einstein's theory of gravity and a new theory could include some kind of
field that creates this cosmic acceleration. Theorists still don't know what the
correct explanation is, but they have given the solution a name. It is called dark
energy.

What Is Dark Energy?

More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is
because we know how it affects the universe's expansion. Other than that, it is a
complete mystery. One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of
space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not
nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be
understood. The first property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for
more space to come into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity
theory, the version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second
prediction: "empty space" can possess its own energy. Because this energy is a
property of space itself, it would not be diluted as space expands. As more
space comes into existence, more of this energy-of-space would appear. As a
result, this form of energy would cause the universe to expand faster and faster.
Unfortunately, no one understands why the cosmological constant should even
be there, much less why it would have exactly the right value to cause the
observed acceleration of the universe.

it is an important mystery. It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark
energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth,
everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up
to less than 5% of the universe. Come to think of it, maybe it shouldn't be called
"normal" matter at all, since it is such a small fraction of the universe.

Another explanation for how space acquires energy comes from the quantum
theory of matter. In this theory, "empty space" is actually full of temporary
("virtual") particles that continually form and then disappear. But when physicists
tried to calculate how much energy this would give empty space, the answer
came out wrong - wrong by a lot. The number came out 10120 times too big. That's
a 1 with 120 zeros after it. It's hard to get an answer that bad. So the mystery
continues.
Another explanation for dark energy is that it is a new kind of dynamical energy
fluid or field, something that fills all of space but something whose effect on the
expansion of the universe is the opposite of that of matter and normal energy.
Some theorists have named this "quintessence," after the fifth element of the
Greek philosophers. But, if quintessence is the answer, we still don't know what it
is like, what it interacts with, or why it exists. So the mystery continues.
A last possibility is that Einstein's theory of gravity is not correct. That would not
only affect the expansion of the universe, but it would also affect the way that
normal matter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies behaved. This fact would
provide a way to decide if the solution to the dark energy problem is a new
gravity theory or not: we could observe how galaxies come together in clusters.
But if it does turn out that a new theory of gravity is needed, what kind of theory
would it be? How could it correctly describe the motion of the bodies in the Solar
System, as Einstein's theory is known to do, and still give us the different
prediction for the universe that we need? There are candidate theories, but none
are compelling. So the mystery continues.

The thing that is needed to decide between dark energy possibilities - a property
of space, a new dynamic fluid, or a new theory of gravity - is more data, better
data.

What Is Dark Matter?

By fitting a theoretical model of the composition of the universe to the combined

set of cosmological observations, scientists have come up with the composition
that we described above, ~68% dark energy, ~27% dark matter, ~5% normal
matter. What is dark matter?

We are much more certain what dark matter is not than we are what it is. First, it
is dark, meaning that it is not in the form of stars and planets that we see.
Observations show that there is far too little visible matter in the universe to
make up the 27% required by the observations. Second, it is not in the form of
dark clouds of normal matter, matter made up of particles called baryons. We
know this because we would be able to detect baryonic clouds by their
absorption of radiation passing through them. Third, dark matter is not
antimatter, because we do not see the unique gamma rays that are produced
when antimatter annihilates with matter. Finally, we can rule out large galaxy-
sized black holes on the basis of how many gravitational lenses we see. High
concentrations of matter bend light passing near them from objects further away,
but we do not see enough lensing events to suggest that such objects to make up
the required 25% dark matter contribution.

A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence of

electrical currents and magnetized materials. In everyday life, the effects of
magnetic fields are most readily encountered with nearby permanent magnets,
which pull on magnetic materials (such as iron) and attract or repel other
magnets. Magnetic fields surround and are created by magnetized material and
by moving electric charges (electric currents) such as those used
in electromagnets. Magnetic fields exert forces on nearby moving electrical
charges and torques on nearby magnets. In addition, a magnetic field that varies
with location exerts a force on magnetic materials. Both the strength and
direction of a magnetic field varies with location. As such, it is an example of
a vector field.
The term 'magnetic field' is used for two distinct but closely related fields denoted
by the symbols B and H. In the International System of Units, H is measured in
units of amperes per meter and B is measured in teslas or newtons per meter per
ampere. H and B differ in how they account for magnetization. In
a vacuum, B and H are the same aside from units; but in a magnetized

material, B/ and H differ by the magnetization M of the material at that point in

the material.
Magnetic fields are produced by moving electric charges and the
intrinsic magnetic moments of elementary particles associated with a
fundamental quantum property, their spin.[1][2] Magnetic fields and electric
fields are interrelated, and are both components of the electromagnetic force, one
of the four fundamental forces of nature.
Magnetic fields are widely used throughout modern technology, particularly
in electrical engineering and electromechanics. Rotating magnetic fields are used
in both electric motors and generators. The interaction of magnetic fields in
electric devices such as transformers is studied in the discipline of magnetic
circuits. Magnetic forces give information about the charge carriers in a material
through the Hall effect. The Earth produces its own magnetic field, which shields
the Earth's ozone layer from the solar wind and is important in navigation using
a compass.

A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the
extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star.
What causes a supernova?
One type of supernova is caused by the “last hurrah” of a dying massive star. This
happens when a star at least five times the mass of our sun goes out with a fantastic
bang!
Massive stars burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores , or centers. This
produces tons of energy , so the center gets very hot. Heat generates pressure, and the
pressure created by a star’s nuclear burning also keeps that star from collapsing.
A star is in balance between two opposite forces. The star’s gravity tries to squeeze the
star into the smallest, tightest ball possible. But the nuclear fuel burning in the star’s
core creates strong outward pressure. This outward push resists the inward squeeze of
gravity.
When a massive star runs out of fuel, it cools off. This causes the pressure to drop.
Gravity wins out, and the star suddenly collapses. Imagine something one million times
the mass of Earth collapsing in 15 seconds! The collapse happens so quickly that it
creates enormous shock waves that cause the outer part of the star to explode!
Usually a very dense core is left behind, along with an expanding cloud of hot gas called
a nebula. A supernova of a star more than about 10 times the size of our sun may leave
behind the densest objects in the universe—
black holes.

A second type of supernova can happen in systems where two stars orbit one another
and at least one of those stars is an Earth-sized white dwarf. A white dwarf is what's left
after a star the size of our sun has run out of fuel. If one white dwarf collides with another
or pulls too much matter from its nearby star, the white dwarf can explode. Kaboom!

A supernova ( /ˌsuːpərnoʊvə/ plural: supernovae /ˌsuːpərnoʊviː/ or supernovas ,

abbreviations: SN and SNe) is a transient astronomical event that occurs during the last
stellar evolutionary stages of a star's life, either a massive star or a white dwarf, whose
destruction is marked by one final, titanic explosion . This causes the sudden
appearance of a "new" bright star, before slowly fading from sight over several weeks or
months or years.
Supernovae are more energetic than novae. In Latin , nova means "new", referring
astronomically to what appears to be a temporary new bright star. Adding the prefix
"super-" distinguishes supernovae from ordinary novae, which are far less luminous.
The word supernova was coined by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky in 1931. [1]
Only three Milky Way naked-eye supernova events have been observed during the last
thousand years, though many have been seen in other galaxies using
telescopes . The most recent directly observed supernova in the Milky Way was
Kepler's Supernova in 1604, but two more recent supernova remnants have also been
found. Statistical observations of supernovae in other galaxies suggest they occur on
average about three times every century in the Milky Way, and that any galactic
supernova would almost certainly be observable with modern astronomical telescopes.
Supernovae may expel much, if not all, of the material away from a star [2] at velocities
up to 30,000 km/s or 10% of the speed of light. This drives an expanding and fast-moving
shock wave [3] into the surrounding interstellar medium , and in turn, sweeping up an
expanding shell of gas and dust, which is observed as a supernova remnant. Supernovae
create, fuse and eject the bulk of the chemical elements produced by nucleosynthesis.
[4] Supernovae play a significant role in enriching the interstellar medium with the
heavier atomic mass chemical elements. [5] Furthermore, the expanding shock waves
from supernovae can trigger the formation of new stars . [6][7] Supernova remnants are
expected to accelerate a large fraction of galactic primary cosmic rays , but direct
evidence for cosmic ray production was found only in a few of them so far. [8] They are
also potentially strong galactic sources of gravitational waves. [9]
Theoretical studies indicate that most supernovae are triggered by one of two basic
mechanisms: the sudden re-ignition of nuclear fusion in a degenerate star or the sudden
gravitational collapse of a massive star's core. In the first instance, a degenerate white
dwarf may accumulate sufficient material from a binary companion , either through
accretion or via a merger, to raise its core temperature enough to trigger runaway
nuclear fusion, completely disrupting the star. In the second case, the core of a massive
star may undergo sudden gravitational collapse, releasing gravitational potential energy
as a supernova. While some observed supernovae are more complex than these two
simplified theories, the astrophysical collapse mechanics have been established and
accepted by most astronomers for some time.
Due to the wide range of astrophysical consequences of these events, astronomers now
deem supernova research, across the fields of stellar and galactic evolution, as an
especially important area for investigation.

In modern physics , antimatter is defined as a material composed of the

antiparticle (or "partners") to the corresponding particles of ordinary matter .
In theory, a particle and its anti-particle (e.g., proton and antiproton) have the same mass
as one another, but opposite electric charge and other differences in
quantum numbers . For example, a proton has positive charge while an antiproton has
negative charge. A collision between any particle and its anti-particle partner is known to
lead to their mutual annihilation , giving rise to various proportions of intense photons (
gamma rays ), neutrinos, and sometimes less-massive particle–antiparticle pairs.
Antimatter particles bind with one another to form antimatter, just as ordinary particles
bind to form normal matter. For example, a positron (the antiparticle of the electron ) and
an antiproton (the antiparticle of the proton ) can form an
antihydrogen atom. Physical principles indicate that complex antimatter atomic nuclei
are possible, as well as anti-atoms corresponding to the known chemical elements.
Antimatter in the form of anti-atoms is one of the most difficult materials to produce.
Individual antimatter particles, however, are commonly produced by
particle accelerators and in some types of radioactive decay. The nuclei of
antihelium have been artificially produced with difficulty.

Antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. More specifically, the sub-atomic particles of
antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter. The electrical charge of
those particles is reversed. Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang,
but antimatter is rare in today's universe, and scientists aren't sure why.
To better understand antimatter, one needs to know more about matter. Matter is made
up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements such as hydrogen, helium or
oxygen. Each element has a certain number of atoms: Hydrogen has one atom; helium
has two atoms; and so on.
The universe of an atom is complex, as it is full of exotic particles with properties of spin
and "flavor" that physicists are only just beginning to understand. From a simple
perspective, however, atoms have particles that are known as electrons, protons and
neutrons inside of them.