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Dark Matter Recreations Part One
Mar
13, 2009
There seems to be a growing cadre
of theoretical astronomers who are
focused on mathematical recreations
centered on dark matter without
observations or data to interpret.
In June 2008, Universe Today
published a
report from astronomers Siegel
and Xu, predicting about 10^20
kilograms of dark matter in our
Solar System that was accreted over
the last 4.5 billion years. Quoting
Siegel in the original
paper:
“Overall, we find that dark matter
in our Solar System is far more
important than previously thought.
Due to gravitational three-body
interactions between dark matter
particles, the Sun, and the planets,
a significant amount of dark matter
winds up gravitationally bound to
our Solar System, resulting in
density enhancements between two and
five orders of magnitude, depending
on the distance from the Sun.”
The paper begins by asserting dark
matter as a reality, without any
doubt as to its existence. Siegel
begins the paper by citing evidence
in three key areas that support the
existence of dark matter: First,
cosmic microwave background (CMB)
evidence; second, galactic power
spectrum analyses; and third, galaxy
cluster collision evidence.
In part two of this article we will
examine this underlying evidence in
some detail. However, summarizing
the Electric Universe position about
the initial dark matter assertion,
the underlying “evidence” for dark
matter is not so much actual data,
but the cosmological interpretations
overlaid on actual data. The real
observational data is red shifts,
galactic distances, and cosmic
background temperature gradients.
All else is inference.
The approach Siegel and Xu took in
computing the amount of dark matter
in the solar system was based in the
assumption that there is a certain
dark matter density in the
interstellar space surrounding the
Solar System. They used a value of
0.009 solar masses per cubic parsec
(one cubic parsec equals 9.78 cubic
light-years), which amounts to about
7 x 10^-20 kilograms per cubic
meter, or about 10 to 100 times the
density assumed for “regular”
interstellar matter.
They then used relatively
straightforward calculations to
compute the volume of space the
Solar System encountered in its 4.5
billion year history. With that,
they were able to calculate the
gravitational capture of the dark
matter given the relative velocities
of the planets, the sun and the dark
matter itself. Without getting into
too much detail, they were able to
estimate a dark matter density
profile with respect to distance
from the sun and the different
planets.
According to Xu and Siegel, the
Solar System has captured about
10^20 kilograms of dark matter over
its 4.5 billion year history.
Questions that should always be in
the forefront when reading any
scientific report include: how valid
are the underlying assumptions for
the work, and how useful is it for
understanding the Universe?
Putting 10^20 kilograms of matter
into context reveals it to be
vanishingly small with respect to
the Solar System as a whole. This
amount of mass falls somewhere
between the third and fourth largest
asteroids (Vesta and Hygiea,
respectively). The determination
does nothing to explain Solar System
dynamics or the anomalous behavior
of space probes. How this
vanishingly small amount of matter
translates into “a significant
amount of dark matter” is difficult
to understand.
The key, according to Siegel, is
that the dark matter density near
the Earth (3.3 x 10^16 kilograms per
cubic astronomical unit) is now
shown to be four orders of magnitude
greater than the background halo
density. This statement is
confusing. Translating the dark
matter density close to the Earth
into kilograms per cubic meter
results in 10^-17 kilograms per
cubic meter. Remember the
interstellar dark matter density was
7 x 10^-20 kilograms per cubic
meter, which looks like 2 to 3
orders of magnitude.
Regardless, Siegel claims this
“discovery” will help dark matter
investigators because they'll "know
where to look." However, by
definition, dark matter is
unobservable so it is unclear how
this benefit will be realized.
A different viewpoint demonstrates
that these investigators have based
a paper on assumptions about dark
matter drawn from earlier papers
that are themselves based on
different types of assumptions about
dark matter and the cosmological
model. There is assumption layered
on assumption to the point where
there is no longer any need for
actual data or observations.
It seems to be enough at this point
to construct a Universe and Solar
System that astronomers no longer
actually observe in favor of
mathematical recreations involving
dark matter densities and so on. In
the end, this work has led to a
conclusion that a vanishingly small
(one might say meaningless) amount
of dark matter has accumulated in
4.5 billion years. I’m sorry, I do
not find this enlightening.
I encourage astronomers like these
authors in question to go out on a
clear night with a simple optical
telescope and take a good look. They
will see a Universe that is brightly
lit throughout the electromagnetic
spectrum, with electrically active
plasmas stretching between our Sun
and the planets, as well as between
the stars and galaxies.
During the day using a solar filter,
they will see the electromagnetic
activity of our own Sun tossing
immensely hot filaments of plasma
into space. With bigger telescopes,
like Hubble, they can see
intricately arrayed Birkeland
filaments winding through planetary
nebulae. The heart of our galaxy is
brightly lit in a sparkling
electromagnetic rainbow driven by
powerful electrical currents carried
on intergalactic transmission lines.
The Universe is not an abstract
mathematical construct of dark
matter halos, black hole
singularities or geometrically
perfect neutron stars. It is filled
with electric currents flowing
through chaotically beautiful
Birkeland filaments. These chaotic
filaments are notoriously difficult
to squeeze into linear differential
equations, but they’re there just
the same. Just go look.
Tom Wilson
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