Mystery of the Hidden Cosmos: Something Big is Missing from Our Everything
by Jeff Lindsay
The behavior of galaxy clusters like this one provides
information pointing to the existence of vast amounts of dark matter in our universe. (Photo
from NASA)
Could we be "living alongside a dark parallel reality" in which the galaxies we see overlap with
cast amounts of invisible matter capable of having complex structure? This is the question raised
in the cover story of the July 2015 issue of Scientific American, "Mystery of the Hidden
Cosmos," by Bogdau A. Dobrescu and Don Lincoln (vol. 313, no. 1, pp. 32-39).
The authors are researchers at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.
Dark matter is one of the most intriguing tentative discoveries of physics in the past century.
Based on observations of galaxies, it has become clear that their behavior is not consistent with
the amount of ordinary visible matter that they have.
For example, to account for the existence of galaxy clusters, some unseen source of gravity must
be holding the clustered galaxies together. To explain the observed spinning of galaxies, there
must be some unseen source of gravity tugging at them. And to explain the way galaxy clusters
bend light from distant galaxies behind them, they must have much more mass than we can
visually detect.
The source of these large forces is believed to be some class of matter such as a particle or
particles that do not interact with ordinary matter through electromagnetism (otherwise it would
be visible) nor through the strong force that holds atomic nuclei together (otherwise they could
bind to nuclei and be readily detectable).
Dark matter is apparently far more prevalent than regular matter, and both dark matter and
regular matter are dwarfed by the mass contributed by the strange phenomenon of "dark energy"
that is pushing galaxies apart from each other, overcoming the attraction of gravity.
It turns out that only about 4% of the cosmos is actually made of the matter that we used to think
made up everything. The significance of dark matter and dark energy are simply astonishing, and
should be humbling to all those who think that we can understand the cosmos based on what we
see with our eyes.
Sorry folks, but what you can see and touch, the ordinary matter of the universe, accounts for
only 4% of reality. For those who thought there was no need to invoke anything beyond our
visible universe to understand the cosmos, it turns out there's a lot more to reality than the
everything you were so comfortable with.
Although the amount of dark matter is surprisingly large, even bigger surprises might arise in the
way this puzzling material is distributed across the cosmos. Trying to make sense of the
measurements of its distribution has driven several refinements in the scientific theories
describing dark matter.
The most basic theory proposes that a single type of heavy particle accounts for the distribution
of the dark matter. This particle, the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), would be a
relatively slow-moving ("cold") type of dark matter.
The distribution of dark matter can be inferred by observing how galaxies bend light
(gravitational lensing), by the behavior of galaxy clusters, by the behavior of colliding galaxies,
or by the rapid rotation of some galaxies like Andromeda.
Some details in the observed behavior of our own galaxy do not fit predictions based on dark
matter composed solely of WIMPs, but these problems may be resolved if dark matter is assumed
to be complex, having more than just one kind of particle.
Improved results may be obtained if, in addition to WIMPS, there are also dark particles that can
interact with one another more strongly via means such as some kind of "dark charge" or the
exchange of something like "dark photons."
This situation opens the possibility that multiple types of dark matter could interact to form
analogs to atoms, molecules, and more complex structures. Under such models, the Milky Way,
for example, may have a spherical cloud of WIMPs and an additional galactic disk of dark matter
roughly aligned with the visible galactic disk of stars and other ordinary matter.
The mass of ordinary matter may be about 15% of what is in our galaxy, with another 15% in the
disk of strongly interacting dark matter and the remaining 70% in a roughly spherical cloud of
WIMPs.
Could this invisible, "fine" dark matter be related to spirit matter and the spirit world? We don't
know if dark matter can provide the complex systems we think are part of the "spirit world," but
that's a tantalizing idea.
Dobrescu and Lincoln conclude their article with a light-hearted touch:
The real message is that we have a mystery before us and that we do not know what the
answer will be. Until we find it, we must be open to myriad explanations, including the
fascinating possibility that we might be living alongside a dark parallel reality. Could it be
that a dark matter scientist has turned its attention to its skies and is wondering about us?
Raising the possibility of some kind of intelligence in the world of dark matter need not be
entirely ludicrous.
7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure,
and can only be discerned by purer eyes;
8 We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.
When I pondered that statement years ago as a young student in college, it struck me as a very
science-compatible concept. Now with the recognition of dark matter as a dominant unseen
component of our universe, it seems all the more relevant and science-compatible.
Immaterial matter might be great for the philosophers, but it makes no sense to me. I treasure
Joseph's inspired statement on the materiality of spirit.
If dark matter is somehow related to spirit matter, then it will be especially exciting to see how
scientific knowledge and experimental methods advance in this field. Will we uncover evidence
of the spirit world? Or just further evidence that the universe is far more complicated than we
ever imagined? Stay tuned, and keep imagining!
Jeff Lindsay has been defending the Church on the Internet since 1994, when he launched his
LDSFAQ website under JeffLindsay.com. He has also long been blogging about LDS matters on
the blog Mormanity (mormanity.blogspot.com). Jeff is a longtime resident of Appleton,
Wisconsin, who recently moved to Shanghai, China, with his wife, Kendra.
He works for an Asian corporation as head of intellectual property. Jeff and Kendra are the parents of 4 boys, 3 married and the the youngest on a mission.
He is a former innovation and IP consultant, a former professor, and former Corporate Patent
Strategist and Senior Research Fellow for a multinational corporation.
Jeff Lindsay, Cheryl Perkins and Mukund Karanjikar are authors of the book Conquering
Innovation Fatigue (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).
Jeff has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and is a registered US
patent agent. He has more than 100 granted US patents and is author of numerous publications.
Jeff's hobbies include photography, amateur magic, writing, and Mandarin Chinese.