OUTLOOK

THE DARK UNIVERSE

29 September 2016 / Vol 537 / Issue No 7622

A
OUTLOOK 29 September 2016
Supplement to Nature
Research journals
ll the matter that has ever been detected accounts
for a mere 4.9% of the Universe. Most of the cosmos CONTENTS
is the dark universe: a mix of dark matter (26.8%)
and dark energy (68.3%), both of which have so far proved
S194 DARK MATTER
impenetrable puzzles. What’s the matter?
THE
DARK
The existence of dark matter has been inferred from the Physicists are narrowing down the
UNIVERSE
motion of stars since the 1930s, but its nature remains a possibilities for dark-matter particles
mystery. The dark-matter particle posited by the most popular
Produced with support from:
Physics of the
unknown

theory has not been shown to exist — if it is to make an S198 ASTRONOMY

Cover art: Daniel Stolle
Revealing the unseen Universe
appearance, it may be now or never. The search is narrowing A graphical guide to exploring the
Editorial and the possibilities are dwindling; physicists may soon have Universe
Herb Brody to move on to alternative explanations (see page S194).
Michelle Grayson Explaining dark energy is even tougher. The discovery S200 Q&A
Richard Hodson Cosmic cartographer
Jenny Rooke of the accelerating expansion of the Universe in 1998
George Smoot discusses the big
Art & Design called for a driving force that opposes the pull of gravity discovery of last year: gravitational
Mohamed Ashour (S205). At the heart of attempts to characterize this energy waves
Andrea Duffy is a deceptively simple question: is dark energy constant?
Wesley Fernandes Finding out will require looking back in time, to the birth S201 DARK ENERGY
Wojtek Urbanek Staring into darkness
of the Universe (S201). The quest to explain why the expansion
Production
Matthew Carey The ability to detect neutrinos and gravitational waves of the Universe is accelerating
Ian Pope should provide new ways of observing and exploring the
Karl Smart hitherto unseen Universe (S198). Indeed, the feeling among S205 Q&A
Sponsorship Illuminated Universe
both Nobel prizewinners and young scientists at the 66th
Reya Silao Brian Schmidt talks about the search
Yvette Smith
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in June was that physicists for dark energy
Marketing
are on the cusp of a new era in astronomy (S200).
Alan Abery There is much more left to learn about the dark universe S206 RESEARCH
(S206). It falls to the next generation of physicists, some of 4 big questions
Project Manager
The most pressing puzzles waiting to
Anastasia Panoutsou whom give their predictions for future research in this Outlook,
be solved
Art Director to build on the ideas of their Nobel-winning peers. But it is
Kelly Buckheit Krause clear that the dark universe will not give up its secrets lightly.
Publisher We are pleased to acknowledge the financial support of RELATED ARTICLES
Richard Hughes
Mars, Incorporated in producing this Outlook. As always, S207 High-energy neutrino astrophysics
Editorial Director,
Partnership Media
Nature has sole responsibility for all editorial content. F. Halzen
Stephen Pincock S213 Is dark energy really a mystery?
Editor-in-Chief Richard Hodson E. Bianchi, C. Rovelli & R. Kolb
Philip Campbell Supplements editor
S215 Properties of galaxies reproduced by
a hydrodynamic simulation
Nature Outlooks are sponsored supplements that aim to stimulate All featured articles will be freely available for 6 months. M. Vogelsberger et al.
interest and debate around a subject of interest to the sponsor, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND CUSTOMER SERVICES
while satisfying the editorial values of Nature and our readers’ Site licences (www.nature.com/libraries/site_licences): Americas,
S221 The moment of truth for WIMP dark
expectations. The boundaries of sponsor involvement are clearly institutions@natureny.com; Asia-Pacific, http://nature.asia/ matter
delineated in the Nature Outlook Editorial guidelines available at jp-contact; Australia/New Zealand, nature@macmillan.com.au;
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CITING THE OUTLOOK com. Personal subscriptions: UK/Europe/ROW, subscriptions@
Cite as a supplement to Nature, for example, Nature Vol. XXX, nature.com; USA/Canada/Latin America, subscriptions@ S226 A geometric measure of dark energy
No. XXXX Suppl., Sxx–Sxx (2016). us.nature.com; Japan, http://nature.asia/jp-contact; China, http:// with pairs of galaxies
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The Nature Outlook The Dark Universe supplement can be found at subscribe.
http://www.nature.com/nature/outlook/dark-universe CUSTOMER SERVICES S229 Nearby galaxies as pointers to a
It features all newly commissioned content as well as a selection of Feedback@nature.com
relevant previously published material. Copyright © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. better theory of cosmic evolution
P. J. E. Peebles & A. Nusser

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