Shedding Light on Dark Matter

Presented by James O’Brien
Associate Professor of Physics and Mathematics
Chair, Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science

Wednesday October 23, 2024
1-2:15 p.m.
Cleveland E. and Phyllis B. Dodge Room (C-F)

If you have ever read a modern article on astrophysics or turned on the Discovery Channel and watched a program on advances in science, you have heard the words “dark matter.” But what exactly is this exotic type of matter? Where can it be found?  And why does if account for over 27% of our universe?

For years, dark matter has been the commonly accepted resolution to the missing mass problem in the rotation curves of spiral galaxies as well as the missing mass in cluster dynamics. However, in recent years, new advanced searches for dark matter in both the cosmos as well as our own milky way have proven to be challenging. As technology has increased, a lack of detection of dark matter has also opened the door for possible alternative theories of gravity to rethink the entire paradigm. Further, very recent observations have shown unexpected universal trends in galactic dynamics not predicted by dark matter.

In this talk, O’Brien will focus on the history of how dark matter became an accepted amendment to general relativity for the universe at large and how alternative theories of gravity may pave the way to uncovering the missing physics in the missing matter problem.