4 ms·

Has Dark Matter Finally Been Found?

21 points by rpm4321 14y ago

monochromatic 14y ago
I have to think Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies with even more force on kurzweilai.
- JacobAldridge 14y ago
  Kurzweilai Tagline: "Accelerating Intelligence?"
ChuckMcM 14y ago
No. Ok, sorry that is a bit snarky. I dislike space.com (best read using lynx(1)) and I really dislike reporting on the hint of results from an unpublished paper which probably isn't what you think because oh-my-gosh we might be able to confuse a few hicks into clicking on one of these adverts we just threw under their mouse when they weren't looking. Woo hoo! Another buck fifty for us sucker! Read this: http://ams.pg.infn.it/~zuccon/Pubblicazioni/ams/physicsreport.pdf http://ams.pg.infn.it/~zuccon/Pubblicazioni/ams/physicsrepor... and then decide for yourself if you think their theory holds water or not.
- jerrya 14y ago
  I started using adblock plus filters to remove the worse portions of space.com and it was a pretty good experience. Got rid of social networking crap, got rid of their top bar, their bottom bar, the sidebars, the header, the masthead, the next article prompter, and the site was becoming readable, and then I slipped up and whoosh out went their content and voila, and like many inventions, one error led me to realize a greater creation than I had originally thought possible.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  Nature.com makes it sound like the scientist leading this is playing games with the press. Why call a press conference with over 100 reporters and live stream it if you have nothing to announce yet? Pretty cheesy. http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/02/dark-matter-search-from-the-space-station-continues-to-tease.html http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/02/dark-matter-search-from...
bobwaycott 14y ago
Devoid of substantive and informative content.
eksith 14y ago
How does one "find" what's already been "found"? We already know where dark matter is just by observing changes in gravity, we just need to know what it is. Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains this the best : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSeXyDEWgyc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSeXyDEWgyc The tl;dr of that article is basically that Dark Matter is theorised to be made of WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) which are matter that are their own anti-matter. Mind boggling concept since when ordinary matter meets anti-matter, it's an Angels and Demons style explosion. But these particles are their own "matter" and anti-matter in one, if that's what they really are. These WIMPs give rise to positrons, which are basically anti-electrons (anti-matter variant of electrons) and this is what these sensors are alleged to have detected. WIMPs are what they think create positrons and regular electrons. "The smoking gun signature is a rise and then a dramatic fall" in the number of positrons with respect to energy, because the positrons produced by dark matter annihilation would have a very specific energy, depending on the mass of the WIMPs making up dark matter... Until they actually publish that paper with conclusive evidence, this is still all speculation and ad revenue for space.com .
- nagrom 14y ago
  "when ordinary matter meets anti-matter, it's an Angels and Demons style explosion" Oh goodness me, no. They annihilate to create a lepton pair. There is no explosion, really. Subatomic physics is much more boring than popular science would have you believe! You must try quite hard to get an explosion - it isn't chemistry, where things explode simply because it's Wednesday. Particles that are their own antimatter are not all that exotic either. Z bosons, gluons and photons are all their own antiparticles too, and perhaps neutrinos. As I understand it (and I am a nuclear physicist, not an astrophysicist) there are few (no?) observed natural interactions known to produce high energy positrons (i.e. with energy >1 GeV). So, if you find one coming from space, it is an indicator that something unexplained has happened. Since we know where there must be clusters of dark matter and WIMPs are theorised to produce such positrons, dark matter decay is the leading candidate for an explanation for a high energy positron coming from such a direction. Or it could be aliens, of course.
  - eksith 14y ago
afhof 14y ago
Another case of Betteridge's law of headlines.
freddealmeida 14y ago
I think the largest issue with dark matter and it's cousin dark energy is that there is no observation of either, at all. What we see is a wobble here, or a mess of background radiation and we suspect it may be something to do with this high mass non-radiating matter. I think this may be our modern ether. Though the theory of ether was far more interesting.

21 points by rpm4321 14y ago

monochromatic 14y ago

I have to think Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies with even more force on kurzweilai.

JacobAldridge 14y ago
Kurzweilai Tagline: "Accelerating Intelligence?"

ChuckMcM 14y ago

No. Ok, sorry that is a bit snarky. I dislike space.com (best read using lynx(1)) and I really dislike reporting on the hint of results from an unpublished paper which probably isn't what you think because oh-my-gosh we might be able to confuse a few hicks into clicking on one of these adverts we just threw under their mouse when they weren't looking. Woo hoo! Another buck fifty for us sucker! Read this: http://ams.pg.infn.it/~zuccon/Pubblicazioni/ams/physicsreport.pdf http://ams.pg.infn.it/~zuccon/Pubblicazioni/ams/physicsrepor... and then decide for yourself if you think their theory holds water or not.

jerrya 14y ago
I started using adblock plus filters to remove the worse portions of space.com and it was a pretty good experience. Got rid of social networking crap, got rid of their top bar, their bottom bar, the sidebars, the header, the masthead, the next article prompter, and the site was becoming readable, and then I slipped up and whoosh out went their content and voila, and like many inventions, one error led me to realize a greater creation than I had originally thought possible.
waterlesscloud 14y ago
Nature.com makes it sound like the scientist leading this is playing games with the press. Why call a press conference with over 100 reporters and live stream it if you have nothing to announce yet? Pretty cheesy. http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/02/dark-matter-search-from-the-space-station-continues-to-tease.html http://blogs.nature.com/news/2013/02/dark-matter-search-from...

bobwaycott 14y ago

Devoid of substantive and informative content.

eksith 14y ago

How does one "find" what's already been "found"? We already know where dark matter is just by observing changes in gravity, we just need to know what it is. Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains this the best : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSeXyDEWgyc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSeXyDEWgyc The tl;dr of that article is basically that Dark Matter is theorised to be made of WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) which are matter that are their own anti-matter. Mind boggling concept since when ordinary matter meets anti-matter, it's an Angels and Demons style explosion. But these particles are their own "matter" and anti-matter in one, if that's what they really are. These WIMPs give rise to positrons, which are basically anti-electrons (anti-matter variant of electrons) and this is what these sensors are alleged to have detected. WIMPs are what they think create positrons and regular electrons. "The smoking gun signature is a rise and then a dramatic fall" in the number of positrons with respect to energy, because the positrons produced by dark matter annihilation would have a very specific energy, depending on the mass of the WIMPs making up dark matter... Until they actually publish that paper with conclusive evidence, this is still all speculation and ad revenue for space.com .

nagrom 14y ago
"when ordinary matter meets anti-matter, it's an Angels and Demons style explosion" Oh goodness me, no. They annihilate to create a lepton pair. There is no explosion, really. Subatomic physics is much more boring than popular science would have you believe! You must try quite hard to get an explosion - it isn't chemistry, where things explode simply because it's Wednesday. Particles that are their own antimatter are not all that exotic either. Z bosons, gluons and photons are all their own antiparticles too, and perhaps neutrinos. As I understand it (and I am a nuclear physicist, not an astrophysicist) there are few (no?) observed natural interactions known to produce high energy positrons (i.e. with energy >1 GeV). So, if you find one coming from space, it is an indicator that something unexplained has happened. Since we know where there must be clusters of dark matter and WIMPs are theorised to produce such positrons, dark matter decay is the leading candidate for an explanation for a high energy positron coming from such a direction. Or it could be aliens, of course.
- eksith 14y ago

afhof 14y ago

Another case of Betteridge's law of headlines.

freddealmeida 14y ago

I think the largest issue with dark matter and it's cousin dark energy is that there is no observation of either, at all. What we see is a wobble here, or a mess of background radiation and we suspect it may be something to do with this high mass non-radiating matter. I think this may be our modern ether. Though the theory of ether was far more interesting.