What Is Dark Matter, Dark Energy And Antimatter UPSC (2023)

cosmos space

Albert Einstein once said that nothing exists in the void. By that he meant those regions in outer space which seem to be lacking of matter are actually having an invisible form of matter, now called the dark matter. It is around 25% of the Universe. In this article we are going to know what is dark matter, what is dark energy, what is antimatter and dark matter vs dark energy vs antimatter.

dark matter vs dark energy vs antimatter
Credit : Szczureq via Wikimedia Commons

What Is Dark Matter ?

It is in charge of increasing the distance between objects in the galaxy. The focus of research into this is on MACHOs and WIMPs. MACHOs are large, dense, hollow objects similar to black holes. WIMPs are weakly interacting massive particles.

What is Dark Energy?

Dark energy is 70% of the universe. It is the reason behind the acceleration in expansion of the universe. The term expansion implies the movement of the galaxies away from each other. For a long time there was a presumption that the expansion of the universe which started with the Big Bang will gradually slow down and eventually stop.

But when data sent by the Hubble telescope was analyzed the inference was that there was a continuous increase in the rate of the universe. To explain this phenomenon, the concept of the dark energy is used.

It is defined as property of space responsible for its expansion because of which there is extra space that means extra energy which in turn further increases the expansion. Expansion of the universe has been supported by Red shift, cosmic microwave background and supernova explosion.

What is Antimatter?

Antimatter is one of the fundamental questions investigated by LHC is why antimatter is not found in nature. Antiparticles with the same mass but an opposing charge combine to generate antimatter. For an electron antiparticle it is a positron, for proton it is antiproton, for a neutron it is an antineutron.

LHC and Brookhaven lab have synthesized some forms of real antimatter like antihydrogen anti helium but they have failed to sustain them for longer duration, NASA is planning to use antimatter as fuel for interplanetary missions. They are looking to produce energy by annihilation of element and real antimatter.

Antimatter has been used in an experiment called antiproton cell experiment when a tumor cell was destroyed by using antiproton and proton. As per as the evidence of real antimatter are concerned there are very few for example Pamela of NASA which has discovered a sheet of antiproton trapped in earth’s magnetic field, alpha magnetic spectrometer which has detected positron

Theory of Supersymmetry

Standard model of physics failed to answer why antimatter was not found, graviton was not detected, and mass of Higgs Boson which was defined was considerably higher then mass of the Higgs Boson detected. Therefore after the discovery of Higgs Boson, LHC was shut down for some time, when it was started again the focus was on the supersymmetry theory.

According to this model, for every particle there is a super particle, basically particles are grouped into Bosons and Fermions. Fermions include Quarks , antiquarks , lepton, antilepton. The value is always in fraction.

Fermions formed the universe and followed Fermi graped statistics. Bosons are particles responsible for the origin of Graviton, photon, gluon, Higgs Boson, w & z. The value of speed of Bosons is an integer, it does not follow Pauli’S exclusion principle. They sustain the universe, forming a fifth state of element known as Bose-Einstein condensate.

Simplest supersymmetric particle will be charged less but will have mass.

String Theory

The String Theory is considered as ultimate theory but no lab is capable of working on because they cannot produce the required energy.

Conclusion

We can conclude that Black matter is an invisible form of matter, present in the region of outer space whereas energy is defined as the speed with which the universe is expanding. Moving further Antimatter is generated by the combination of antiparticles having same mass but opposing charges. To answer about all these terms and their presence Theory of Supersymmetry was developed which tells for every particle there is a super particle grouped into Bosons and Fermions, followed by String Theory which is however limited in its definition.

dark matter upsc, dark energy upsc

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FAQs

What is dark energy in simple terms?

There is an invisible type of element in those parts of space that appear to be empty of matter; this kind of element is today known as the dark matter. 25% or so of the universe is made up of it.

What is dark energy in simple terms?

70% of the universe is made of the dark energy. That is what is causing the universe’s expansion to speed up. The idea behind the word “expansion” is that galaxies are moving apart from one another.

How is dark energy different from dark matter?

Dark energy accelerates the expansion of the universe, while dark matter slows it down. Like an attractive force, dark matter operates.


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