What is dark matter and how much of the total mass-energy...

Labs

Want to see this concept in action?

NEW

Explore this concept interactively to see how it behaves as you change inputs.

View Labs

Key Concepts

Dark Matter

Dark matter refers to a form of matter that does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, making it invisible to current conventional detection methods. Its presence is inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation, and the large-scale structure of the universe.

Cosmological Mass-Energy Budget

The cosmological mass-energy budget is a breakdown of the different components that make up the universe, such as dark matter, dark energy, and ordinary matter. Observations suggest that dark matter constitutes roughly 27% of the total mass-energy content of the universe.

WIMPs

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are a leading candidate for dark matter. They are hypothesized to have mass and interact via the weak nuclear force, making them difficult to detect but capable of explaining the observed gravitational effects attributed to dark matter.

Axions

Axions are another proposed candidate for dark matter. These are very light, neutral particles that were originally introduced to resolve issues in quantum chromodynamics, and their unique properties could account for the missing mass in the universe if they exist in sufficient numbers.

Transcript

Please give Ace some feedback