Dark Matter

Invisible form of matter comprising ~27% of the universe, detected only through its gravitational effects on galaxies.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Fritz Zwicky inferred unseen mass in the Coma galaxy cluster in 1933; Vera Rubin's rotation curves made the case decisive in the 1970s.
• In the Bullet Cluster collision, gravitational lensing shows the mass separated from the hot gas, direct evidence dark matter is not ordinary matter.
• Despite decades of searching, detectors such as LUX-ZEPLIN and XENONnT have yet to record a confirmed dark matter particle.

Specifications & Metrics

• EVIDENCE: Galaxy rotation curves, gravitational lensing, CMB