Scientists reveal new particulars about darkish matter’s affect on the universe

Scientists utilizing information from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have made probably the most detailed, high-resolution maps of darkish matter ever produced. It exhibits how invisible, ghostly materials overlaps and intertwines with “regular” matter that makes up stars, galaxies, and all the things we are able to see.

Jeyhan Kartaltepe, affiliate professor within the School of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, is a co-author on the analysis published in Nature Astronomy. The map builds on earlier analysis to offer further affirmation and new particulars about how darkish matter has formed the universe on the biggest scales — galaxy clusters thousands and thousands of light-years throughout — that in the end give rise to galaxies, stars, and planets like Earth.

“The exquisite resolution and sensitivity of JWST have enabled us to create the most detailed map of dark matter in our universe to date,” mentioned Kartaltepe, principal investigator of the COSMOS-Web survey. “COSMOS-Web is the largest area JWST survey to date and thus this is the largest dark matter map that has been created at this resolution.”

The space lined by the brand new map is a bit of sky about 2.5 instances bigger than the complete moon. A worldwide neighborhood of scientists have noticed this area with no less than 15 ground- and space-based telescopes for the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), of which Kartaltepe is a co-leader. The purpose of the COSMOS-Web group is to exactly measure the placement of normal matter right here after which evaluate it to the placement of darkish matter. The first darkish matter map of the COSMOS discipline was made in 2007 utilizing information from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

JWST peered at this area for about 255 hours and recognized practically 800,000 galaxies, a lot of which have been detected for the primary time. The COSMOS-Web map accommodates about 10 instances extra galaxies than maps of the realm made by ground-based observatories and twice as many as Hubble’s. It reveals new clumps of darkish matter and captures a higher-resolution view of the areas beforehand seen by Hubble.

When the universe started, common matter and darkish matter have been most likely sparsely distributed. Scientists suppose darkish matter started to clump collectively first and that these darkish matter clumps then pulled collectively common matter, creating areas with sufficient materials for stars and galaxies to start to type. 

In this manner, darkish matter decided the large-scale distribution of galaxies within the universe. By prompting galaxy and star formation to start sooner than they’d have in any other case, darkish matter’s affect additionally performed a job in creating the circumstances for planets to ultimately type. That’s as a result of the primary generations of stars have been accountable for turning hydrogen and helium — which made up the overwhelming majority of atoms within the early universe — into the wealthy array of parts that now compose planets like Earth. In different phrases, darkish matter offered extra time for advanced planets to type.

“Dark matter, how it behaves, and what it is made out of, is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in astrophysics. Maps like this provide important clues about its nature,” mentioned Kartaltepe.”

The full paper could be discovered on the Nature Astronomy website and a full launch on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab website.