A Direct Empirical Proof of the Existence of Dark Matter

By D. Clowe, M. Bradač, Anthony H. Gonzalez, M. Markevitch, S. Randall, C. Jones, Dennis Zaritsky. 2006

2,412 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present new weak-lensing observations of 1E 0657-558 (z = 0.296), a unique cluster merger, that enable a direct detection of dark matter, independent of assumptions regarding the nature of the gravitational force law. Due to the collision of two clusters, the dissipationless stellar component and the fluid-like X-ray-emitting plasma are spatially segregated. By using both wide-field ground-based images and HST/ACS images of the cluster cores, we create gravitational lensing maps showing that the gravitational potential does not trace the plasma distribution, the dominant baryonic mass component, but rather approximately traces the distribution of galaxies. An 8 σ significance spatial offset of the center of the total mass from the center of the baryonic mass peaks cannot be explained with an alteration of the gravitational force law and thus proves that the majority of the matter in the system is unseen.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/40bb17056dc48f33570e2d5a9c0d1490f576d1d7

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Citations in the corpus

On the capture of dark matter by neutron stars (2012, background): “The possibility that the standard gravitation law needs to be modified to explain the observations with the ordinary visible baryonic matter has recently been ruled out by the Bullet Cluster data [4].”
Galactic Searches for Dark Matter (2012, background): “The best modern limits on the self-interaction rate of dark matter do not arise from the observations of the central densities of galaxies, but rather result from the interpretation of the collisions of clusters of galaxies, the most famous being the so-called bullet cluster (Clowe et al., 2006).”
Search for New Physics with Atoms and Molecules (2017, background): “The evidence for DM is derived from observations of DM’s gravitational effects at the galactic scale and larger: galactic rotation curves (Rubin and Ford Jr., 1970; Rubin et al., 1980; Zwicky, 1933), gravitational lensing (Refregier, 2003; Tyson et al., 1998), the Bullet Cluster (Clowe et al., 2006)”
Revealing the Properties of Dark Matter in the Merging Cluster MACS J0025.4–1222 (2008, methodology): “…energetic events since the Big Bang, but, as demonstrated by a recent study of the Bullet Cluster (1E0657−56; Clowe et al. 2004; Bradač et al. 2006; Clowe et al. 2006), they provide a unique avenue by which to probe the self- Electronic address: marusa@physics.ucsb.edu * Based on observations…”
Masses of Galaxy Clusters from Gravitational Lensing (2013, methodology): “Using a finite field inversion method and HST data, Clowe et al. (2006b) determined the separation to be significant at the 8σ level, which was confirmed in an analysis also incorporating strong lensing data (Bradač et al. 2006).”
The waning of the WIMP? A review of models, searches, and constraints (2017, background): “(v) Cluster collisions, such as the Bullet Cluster [17], constrain the level of selfinteractions that DM particles can have (see however refs.”
Observational probes of cosmic acceleration (2012, background): “While a few exceptions will arise, such as the famed Bullet Cluster (Clowe et al., 2006), the frequency of these systems is low.”
Local-Group tests of dark-matter concordance cosmology - Towards a new paradigm for structure formation (2010, background): “Strong evidence for the existence of DM has been suggested by the observations of the interacting galaxy-cluster pair 1E0657-56 (the “Bullet cluster”, Clowe et al. 2006).”
Origin of the Chemical Elements (2010, neutral): “A recent picture taken by the Chandra X-ray Telescope is considered as the first direct evidence for the existence of DM on the scale of galaxy clusters (D. Clowe et al. 2006).”
Cosmological Parameters from Observations of Galaxy Clusters (2011, background): “The observed offsets between the dark matter and X-ray peaks in the Bullet Cluster (1E 0657-558; Bradač et al. 2006; Clowe et al. 2006) and MACSJ0025.”