The Cosmic Cocktail

Three Parts Dark Matter

Katherine Freese

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780691169187, 9780691153353
• eBook ISBN: 9781400850075
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Astronomy & Astrophysics

The inside story of the epic quest to solve the mystery of dark matter

The ordinary atoms that make up the known universe—from our bodies and the air we breathe to the planets and stars—constitute only 5 percent of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The rest is known as dark matter and dark energy, because their precise identities are unknown. The Cosmic Cocktail is the inside story of the epic quest to solve one of the most compelling enigmas of modern science—what is the universe made of?—told by one of today's foremost pioneers in the study of dark matter.

Blending cutting-edge science with her own behind-the-scenes insights as a leading researcher in the field, acclaimed theoretical physicist Katherine Freese recounts the hunt for dark matter, from the discoveries of visionary scientists like Fritz Zwicky—the Swiss astronomer who coined the term "dark matter" in 1933—to the deluge of data today from underground laboratories, satellites in space, and the Large Hadron Collider. Theorists contend that dark matter consists of fundamental particles known as WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles. Billions of them pass through our bodies every second without us even realizing it, yet their gravitational pull is capable of whirling stars and gas at breakneck speeds around the centers of galaxies, and bending light from distant bright objects. Freese describes the larger-than-life characters and clashing personalities behind the race to identify these elusive particles.

Many cosmologists believe we are on the verge of solving the mystery. The Cosmic Cocktail provides the foundation needed to fully fathom this epochal moment in humankind's quest to understand the universe.

INDEX

Page numbers for entries occurring in figures are followed by an f and those for entries in notes, by an n.

Abell 2218 (galaxy cluster), 24, 25f

absolute luminosity, 186–87

acceleration of Universe: dark energy and, 187–192, 193f, color figure 9.3; deceleration, expectation of, 195; fate of life in the Universe and 209–10; future evolution of Universe and, 207–10; measurement of acceleration rate, 187–91f, 190f, 193f, color figure 9.3; radio galaxies, 187–88; reason for acceleration of, 195–206, 196f; shrinking horizon and, 207–8; standard candles, Type IA supernovae as, 184–87, 185f, color figure 9.1; transition from early deceleration, 191. See also dark energy

Adams, Douglas Quincy, 228n5

Adams, Fred, 203, 226n6

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) detector, 110, 111–15

Alpher, Ralph, 48, 225n2

AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer), 168

ANAIS, 179

Andromeda galaxy (M31), 16–17, 38

Angels and Demons (Brown), 86

Anglo-Australian Telescope, 40

annihilation: indirect detection of WIMP annihilation products, 7, 124, 125f, 143–46, 166–70, 169f; matter-antimatter particles, 85–86, 86f; types of dark matter annihilation products, 145–46, 146f. See also indirect detection experiments

annual modulation, 138, 147–55, 148f, 151f, 153f, 173–74; of DAMA data, 145–54, 151f

Antarctica/South Pole, 7, 54, 55f, 56f, 124, 135f, 141, 143, 146f, 168–69, 169f, 180, 211, 212

anthropic principle, 200–202

antimatter, 84–87, 86f

antineutrinos, 71, 84, 85, 86

antiprotons, 84, 85, 168

antiquarks, 84, 86

apparent l...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Preface
• One: The Golden Era of Particle Cosmology, or How I Joined the Chicago Mafia
• Two: How Do Cosmologists Know Dark Matter Exists? The Beginning of the Dark Matter Story
• Three: The Big Picture of the Universe: Einstein and the Big Bang
• Four: Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Proves That Atomic Matter Constitutes Only 5% of the Universe
• List of Plates
• Five: What Is Dark Matter?
• Six: The Discovery of the Higgs Boson
• Seven: The Experimental Hunt for Dark Matter Particles
• Eight: Claims of Detection: Are They Real?
• Nine: Dark Energy and the Fate of the Universe
• Afterword: Dark Stars
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Suggestions for Further Reading
• Index