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Possible Dark Matter Signs At the Core

Scientific American has a piece on speculation that dark matter may be behind diffuse radiation in the galactic center. Beginning in 2003, researchers led by Douglas Finkbeiner noticed a curious excess of microwave radiation in the WMAP data, after all known sources of such radiation were accounted for. Data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope resulted in a similar anomaly in gamma rays. "A paper posted to the physics preprint Web site arXiv.org on October 26 and submitted to the Astrophysical Journal points to a possible signature of dark matter in the Milky Way, although the study's authors are careful to keep their observations empirical and table such speculation... In the new paper [the researchers] describe the Fermi gamma-ray haze and make the claim that it confirms the synchrotron origin of the WMAP microwave haze. And as with the microwave haze, the authors argue that the electrons responsible for the gamma-ray haze appear to originate from an unknown astrophysical process. ... 'We are absolutely in the process of exploring the Fermi haze in the context of dark matter physics,' [one of them] says."

7 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Explanation Impossible by ddxexex · · Score: 0, Troll

    I swear Wave-Particle Duality is the 'God did it' of the physics world. Can't explain something, Wave-Particle Duality is the reason! Can't find a cause, A Wave is it! Can't explain it using a wave, we got particles! Can't explain particles, itsa wave!

    Heck lot's of things in Physics were like that, I mean we still can't really explain gravity all that well either so gravitons are clearly "God did it". Quantum Mechanics? Clearly God is playing dice. Higgs-boson yep it's a God particle. Dark Matter may be tough to explain, but it's no more a Deus-Ex Machina than much of the rest science.

  2. Re:Explanation Very Possible by BitZtream · · Score: 0, Troll

    Dark Matter is the best explanation for galactic rotation curves and the cosmic microwave background.

    And the sun circling the Earth is also the reason used once long long ago to explain things like day and night.

    It was also wrong due to ignorance and based or observations that weren't understood, not real sure why this is supposed to be magically different.

    --
    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  3. Re:It's a black hole! by causality · · Score: 0, Troll

    You have a profound understanding of Physics. That's exactly what physicists do.

    Of course it's dark matter in the middle

    Dark matter is sort of like violence. If it doesn't work, just use more of it.

    Well it is certainly convenient. Anytime your theory doesn't add up, or fails to predict the results of a new observation, why go through all the trouble of considering your theory falsified, questioning your premises, and coming up with new ideas? Just add dark matter to make the math work out. Don't let it concern you that it's the one and only scientifically accepted form of matter that has never once been observed in any laboratory, after all, we have equations to balance!

    The more I see this kind of thing, the more I believe that mainstream science did not eliminate the priesthood. It merely replaced it with a more rational one to fit the changing needs of the people.

    You're rather well-informed and stalwart yourself to be able to see this despite the chorus of screaming voices which would have you believe that you're some kind of moron for questioning something that really does need to be questioned. In other words, truth in your own terms is not for the faint of heart. Anyone who needs to have answers handed to them because they wouldn't dare to question an expert is a member of the faint of heart.

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  4. Re:Explanation Impossible by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 0, Troll

    I studied physics at University, and both me and a friend of mine

    It's pretty obvious that you didn't study English.

    --
    This ain't rocket surgery.
  5. Re:Explanation Impossible by bertok · · Score: 0, Troll

    Did you even read what I wrote?

    Simulations of stars in galaxies are approximations because:
    1) there isn't an equation for an exact solution to any gravitationally bound system containing more than 5 objects.

    That's not what I said, numerical precision is not the issue. If you're only 10 decimal points accurate, that's still good enough. Numerical simulations, of for example, the solar system can be done (and have been done) relativistically to huge precision. Dark matter theories are implying that there's a 10x error. That's not accountable for by numerical precision!

    2) stars in a typical galaxy are not uniform so the simulations must take this into account as a best guess.

    Well duh. However, the simulations I was referring to perform a 'fit' of observed data. We know the observed velocities of stars in galaxies, and given that, a good model can predict the mass distribution of stars that can produce that motion. Using newtonian mechanics, this 'fit' can't be done, an extra "dark matter" term is required, where that dark matter doesn't behave like ordinary stars under gravitation. Using relativistic mechanics, the fit is an exact match to observed galaxies.

    3) newton's equations are indeed incorrect however, Einstein's equations only dominate to a significant degree under unusual conditions.

    You just made the exact same, unfounded assumption everyone else has! How the do you not see that it's a HUGE MISTAKE when observed reality doesn't match the predictions of your simplified model? How is that not enough of a clue that maybe the model may be oversimplified?

    Galaxies are massive. Did you not notice that? It takes 10,000 years for either light or gravity to cross one, and they bend light to the point that we've got nice Hubble pictures of them looking like a reflection in a funhouse mirror. Higher order error terms can't be ignored every time with a wave of your hand. Nonlinear effects can be subtle, and will bite you in the ass if you ignore them.

    In so far as dark matter is concerned, you are incorrect. Experiments like the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search are attempting to detect dark matter particles directly, we've got neutrino detectors looking for evidence of annihilation events... Particle accelerator experiments attempting to actually synthesize dark matter candidates.. To claim that there isn't a way to test the dark matter hypothesis would be grossly inaccurate.
    Disclaimer: Physics isn't my major but I did study quite a bit of it in high school and college.

    There's way to test for dark matter, sure, but no test has even provided a slightest hint of anything that might be there. Physicists are claiming that 90% of the matter is invisible.. so where is it? That would mean that there would be... 10x more stuff around. I think we'd notice.

  6. Re:One word: by arminw · · Score: 0, Troll

    ....Never before have I ever seen anyone declare that the Electric Universe is wrong ....

    That is because it is right! The universe, both on the inter-atomic matter, such as chemistry and all life, as well as the large-scale cosmos is dominated by the electric force. This force is 36 orders of magnitude greater than gravity. A number with 36 zeros is unimaginably big. Even the national debt, counted in pennies, is tiny compared to such a number.

    Gravity operates on neutral matter, but the universe as a whole is not electrically neutral by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the matter in the universe is in the form of plasma, a highly ionized, charged form of matter.

    So far at least, the laws of physics appear to be the same in the distant reaches of space as they are here on earth. To make any form of electromagnetic radiation here on earth, requires the movement of electric charge, electricity if you will. No method of generating electromagnetic radiation, such as gamma rays, has ever been discovered or invented, that does not involve electric charges in motion. Gravity has never been shown to be involved in any way shape or form in the generation of electromagnetic radiation.

    Therefore, the presence of gamma radiation is testimony to the fact of an electric origin.

    The electrical explanation of these phenomena makes fictional constructs such as the dark matter and dark energy as well as black holes unnecessary. They have never been shown to exist, only inferred by mathematics. All those mathematical models that operate only by gravity and do not take into account the much stronger electrical force are just plain wrong, that's all there is to it. All astrophysicists should be required to take some courses on electrical fields and electrical theory.

    The gamma rays however are real measured quantities, not mathematical fiction.

    --
    All theory is gray
  7. Re:Explanation Impossible by bertok · · Score: 0, Troll

    Using relativistic mechanics, the fit is an exact match to observed galaxies.

    I can tell from that quote that you don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about. Even a sophomore physics student can see that these stars are no where near in the conditions where relativistic equations even matter. Jesus christ man, don't you think that if it was that simple a fix physicists would know about it?

    And you can show that mathematically? DID YOU PROVE IT, or just assume, like everyone else?