Re: Existence of Dark Matter
Posted by Pasti on Apr 12, 2004 at 21:17
(67.69.242.80)Re: Existence of Dark Matter (Kethrie)
"Sorry, im not a Math or Science wizz. however i enjoy learning and reading up on it."
Good for you.
"Dark Matter is still a theory, but may be found with in the decade. I can understand that the universe is made of more then we possibly can know."
First things first.Dark matter is not what you call a theory, but a semantic term based on obsevations.It is a proposal.
Observations in astrophysics strongly suggest that there is more mass in the universe that we can see, and therefore measure.And this "missing mass" (for us) has been called dark matter, for the obvious reasons.Which dark matter has very strange properties:interacts with itself and the rest of observable mass only gravitationally (it is what it is called a WIMP, but not in the strict sense of the acronym).
Candidates for this missing mass:anything from neutrinos to Higgs particles, to a new form of matter, etc."The particle accelerators they are speaking of using and trying to create Dark Matter. How can you create something that isnt even proven to exist?"
You take much too literally what a reporter who has less than elementary knowledge on the topic says.
Since the neutrino was, and still is one of the candidates for dark matter,scientists have tried,using accelerators, to experimentally measure the mass of the neutrino.This is the answer to about half of your question.As for the second half,i.e. for the question"How can you create something that isn't even proven to exist?" let me answer you with an example, in order to avoid certain philosophical difficulties.Even before the discovery of the photon,people were currently producing these photons (light that is), but they just didn't know it.
"However if the Particles are Electrically neutral and as large as they are claiming, wouldnt it be possible to use a particle accelorator, that was actually deceleerated using super cooled hydrogen ?"
The answer is no.Accelerators are based on the interaction of particles with electric and magnetic fields, i.e. they work onluy for electrically charged particles.The WIMPS that you are talking about are electrically neutral, so an accelerator is useless for any purpose.
And what would be the purpose of decelerating these particles?The strive is for higher energies (acceleration) not for lower energy (decceleration).
if the particles are the way they are explaining, accelerating doesnt seem right.