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Chapter 22
Dark Matter
1. What is the difference between "hot" and "cold" dark matter?
"hot" and "cold" refer to the speeds at which the particles move. "hot"
dark matter would be composed of particles that move at or near the speed
of light. "cold" dark matter consists of slower moving particles or objects.
2. Many of the first kinds of dark matter discovered would no longer be considered
dark matter. What were they and why not?
Among the first kinds of dark matter were white dwarfs. The were 'dark'
because they were hard to see. But with big enough telescopes, we can see
them. So they are faint, but not really dark matter.
Neptune was dark matter because we detected it first through its
gravitational influence on the other planets. But then we found it. So it is no
longer 'dark.'
White dwarf companions to nearby stars were 'dark' because they were
unseen and tugged on their companion stars through their gravity. But now
we have found them and can see them. They're not 'dark,' just hard to see.
3. Why is dark matter "dark" and, since it is dark, how do we know it is present?
Dark matter is literally dark. Dark matter does not respond to the
electromagnetic force; that is, it does not emit, absorb, reflect, or scatter any
kind of light.
We know it is present because it reacts to the force of gravity. It has mass
and influences the way other objects move in response to its mass.
4. Who was Fritz Zwicky and what contribution did he make to our understanding
of dark matter?
An astronomer who worked at Cal Tech from the 1930s to the 1970s. Made
the first observations that suggested the presence of unseen mass in the
universe; coined the phrase 'cold dark matter' for this mass. His
measurements were of the speeds of galaxies in clusters of galaxies. They
were moving fast enough that they should escape from the cluster, if all the
mass of the cluster were in the form of stars and other things we could see
with our telescopes. Since they were moving 'too fast' yet they were still

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bound to the cluster after billions of years, extra CDM must be present.
5. How much more matter (what factor?) did Fritz Zwicky thought was needed to
explain what he observed? What is that factor thought to be today? By what
factor does the matter found in X-ray observations contribute to solving Zwicky's
problem? What percentage of the matter is still unfound?
Zwicky thought that the visible galaxies were only 1/200th of the total mass
in the Coma cluster. The dark matter must make up 200X more stuff than
the visible matter.
Modern measurements indicate that this factor is about 50. This means that
98% of the mass is dark.
The hot matter found in X-ray observations is about 10X more mass than the
visible mass, or 1/5 of the total 'dark' matter. If 20% of Zwicky's dark
matter is in the hot gas, then 80% of the dark matter remains dark,
unidentified.
6. Who is Vera Rubin and what contribution did she make to our understanding of
dark matter?
An astronomer at the Carnegie Institute of Washington from the early 1960s
through today. Measured rotation curves of galaxies. Showed stars are
orbiting center of galaxy way too fast, given the amount of visible matter
which should be providing the mass. Therefore, spiral galaxies contain
unseen dark matter, which must be 'cold' in order to remain inside the tthe
galaxy.
7. Generally speaking, what is a "rotation curve" (what values are plotted as a
function of other values)?
In a rotation curve, the orbital velocity of a star around the center of a galaxy
is plotted versus the distanced from the center.
8. What does a rotation curve look like for the Milky Way galaxy? What do we
learn from such a rotation curve? Because the 'outer' parts of the rotation curve
have a particular shape, they have been given a kind of name. What do we call
these rotation curves?
Moving from the center, the rotation curve first is very steep, indicating that
much more mass is affecting orbits of stars a little further from the center
than at the center.

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Then the rotation curve plunges. This tells us that not much additional
matter is affecting orbits, i.e., the mass is mostly within the central kpc.
Then the rotation curve rises from 2 to 5 kpc: more mass is being 'added' to
the galaxy.
From 5 kpc on out, the velocity stays the same at virtually all distances at
which orbital velocities can be measured. Again, lots of mass must be added
at all distances from 5 kpc outwards so that the rotation curve does not
plunge, as it did from 1 to 2 kpc.
Flat.
9. What "dark matter" has been detected in the Coma and Virgo clusters? Since this
"dark matter" has now been seen, is it still dark matter? Is this sufficient to solve
the missing matter problem for galaxy clusters? Why or why not?
'hot' dark matter in the form of hot, x-ray emitting gas in between the
galaxies (intracluster gas).
no, it's not really dark matter.
no, it is not enough mass to solve the galaxy cluster dark matter problem.
be non-baryonic.
10. What is at the center of the Milky Way? Why do orbits of stars near the center
of the Milky Way give us the mass of what is at the center?
A black hole.
Orbits give us the mass of only what is INSIDE that orbit. Therefore, orbits
of stars near the center give us the mass of what is inside their orbits. Since
the smallest orbits are for stars that come within 8 AU of the center, and
since the mass inferred from their orbits is 2.6 million times the mass of the
Sun, all of that mass must be inside that orbit.