A Review on Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Elebesova Ademi Azamatovna1

Ana Rita Costa Silva2,3
1. Eshmanbet Kendirbaev - Kyrgyzstan
2. Departamento de Astronomia e Astrofísica - Faculdade de Ciências - Universidade do Porto - Portugal
3. Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço - Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto - Portugal
5th August 2022

Currently, dark matter and dark energy are unsolved problems being tackled in both fields
of cosmology and particle physics. In this review, we provide a general description of dark
matter and dark energy and present some exemplary candidates and theories to describe them.
We have collected the most important information about the nature of dark matter and dark
energy. This review has been compiled in such a way that a beginner to the subject can easily
understand the concepts presented in it, with the hope that students are able to learn about these
two dark mysterious of the Universe.

Keywords: dark matter, dark energy, review

Introduction

Our Universe has a share of 95% composed of dark matter

and dark energy that we cannot see. Only 5% is the visi-
ble matter of galaxies, stars, planets, and other celestial bod-
ies. However, many mysteries remain surrounding what dark
matter and dark energy are made of. In short, dark matter
slows down the expansion of the Universe, while dark energy
speeds it up, but there is much more that still needs to be in-
vestigated. The questions about these two dark mysteries are
important to get a deeper understanding of the Universe, as
they have had a strong impact on its structure and evolution.
Currently there is substantial experimental evidence for
the existence of dark energy and dark matter. But regarding Figure 1
the theoretical explanations proposed, they all have various
flaws. Therefore there is no reliable theory that can accu- Schematic plot of the expected shape of the galaxy rotation
rately describe the nature of these dark mysteries of the Uni- curve (dashed line A) and the velocities that have been mea-
verse. sured in practice (full line B). Plot taken from Wikipedia.
In this report, we present a brief review of the discovery
history and the nature of these two components of the Uni-
verse. We write one section about dark matter and follow
total matter in the Universe consists of dark matter (Planck
with another about dark energy.
Collaboration et al., 2016).
The study of dark matter began with the work of Fritz
Dark Matter Zwicky in 1933. While investigating the movement of galax-
Discovery of Dark Matter ies in the Coma Cluster, he calculated how much matter was
required to maintain the gravitational connection between
Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that, unlike galaxies. He found that there was not enough mass if he
ordinary matter, does not interact with electromagnetic ra- considered only the visible matter. Then he proposed that,
diation. Dark matter is difficult to detect because it does not in addition to stars, gas, and dust, the clusters of the galaxy
absorb, reflect, or emit light. We can only observe its gravita- contains an additional kind of mass, a hidden one. He called
tional effects on visible matter. Dark matter exists in greater it "dunkle materie" or "dark matter" (Zwicky, 1933).
quantity than ordinary matter. It is estimated that 85% of the Further evidence for the presence of dark matter on a
2

galactic scale comes from observations of the rotation curves Dark Energy
of galaxies. In this context, Vera Rubin made a great contri-
bution to the acceptance of the dark matter hypothesis. The History of Dark Energy
farther an object if from the centre of the system, the slower Dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy. Einstein
it should rotate in orbit, following Newton’s second law. So (1917) introduced the cosmological repulsive force "cosmo-
it should have been with stars within galaxies. But Vera Ru- logical constant" into his general theory of relativity to coun-
bin measured that, with increasing distance from the galactic teract the attractive force of gravity and explain the Universe,
centre, the rotational velocity of orbiting stars remained con- which was considered static (neither expanding nor contract-
stant until the very edge of the galaxy (Rubin et al., 1978; ing). Later, Hubble (1929) discovered that the Universe is
Rubin & Ford, 1970). Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram not at all static, that it is expanding. However, the measured
comparing the expected velocities with the measured values. amount of matter in the mass-energy balance of the Universe
Rubin concluded that there must be more mass, otherwise the was small, and some unknown “missing component” was
galaxy would fall apart. She thus proposed that galaxies are required to fill this deficit, very similar to the cosmological
surrounded by a halo of invisible matter. constant.
Direct evidence for the existence of this component was
Dark Matter Candidates first presented by two independent teams of researchers
Baryonic Matter. Baryonic matter is ordinary matter (Perlmutter et al., 1998; Riess et al., 1998). They measured
composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Massive com- the cosmic expansion with precision and found that it was
pact halo objects (MACHOs) are objects consisting of bary- getting faster. This acceleration meant that some unknown
onic matter that do not emit any radiation or emit little and force was opposing gravity, causing the Universe to expand
therefore are difficult to detect. The acronym was coined at a faster rate. Dark energy is believed to be responsible
by Croswell (2002) and these are some of the candidates for for accelerating the expansion of the Universe. The term
dark matter. MACHOs can exist in the form of black holes, "dark energy" first appeared in Huterer and Turner (1999),
neutron stars, white dwarfs, and brown dwarfs. We can detect where it was coined by Michael Turner. It is called "dark"
MACHOs when they pass in front of stars, as microlensing because it does not interact with ordinary energy and par-
amplifies the light, and after which leads to an increase in ticles. The combination of measurements from the Cosmic
brightness (e.g. Calcino et al., 2018, and references within). Wave Background (e.g. Spergel et al., 2003), supernovae Ia
(e.g. Perlmutter et al., 1999), and baryon acoustic oscillations
Non-Baryonic Matter. Non-baryonic matter is the op-
(e.g. Eisenstein et al., 2005) show that dark energy makes up
posite of baryonic matter. That is, it is matter without protons
about 71% of the total energy content in the Universe (e.g.
and neutrons. It can reveal its presence only through gravita-
Kowalski et al., 2008, and references within).
tional effects or weak lensing, because non-baryonic matter
interacts weakly with radiation. It may be composed of some
as-yet-undiscovered subatomic particles. Non-baryonic mat- Dark Energy Theories
ter can vary from hot to cold, depending on whether it trav- Cosmological constant. The cosmological constant
elled at relativistic speeds when galaxies started forming. (Einstein, 1917) is one of the possible forms of dark energy.
Particles that were moving much slower than light are the Einstein’s theory of gravity predicts that "empty space" can
cold dark matter candidates. Some examples of these parti- have its own energy. Because this energy is a property of
cles are neutralinos, axions, WIMPzillas, solitons. The hot space itself, it will not dissolve as space expands. As more
non-baryonic matter consists of the high-velocity particles, space appears, more of this space energy appears. As a result,
such as neutrinos. this form of energy will cause the Universe to expand faster
Non-baryonic candidates for dark matter can be thought and faster.
of as belonging to three different categories. There are the Quintessence. There is another theory that dark en-
already discovered particles, the promising theoretical can- ergy is a particle-like excitation of some dynamic scalar
didates, and the remaining theoretical particles. The main field called quintessence (Ratra & Peebles, 1988; Wetterich,
particles in the first category are neutrinos (e.g. Gunn et al., 1988). Quintessence is an extremely compressed form of
1978; Lee & Weinberg, 1977). For the second category, there dark energy. The difference from the cosmological constant
are three candidates: the sterile neutrino (e.g. Dasgupta & is that the density of quintessence can vary in space and time.
Kopp, 2021), the axion (e.g. Chadha-Day et al., 2022), and
the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP, which could be a Conclusion
neutralino, gravitino, or sneutrino, e.g. Ellis & Olive, 2010).
The candidates in the third category are, for example (but We now know that most of the Universe is made up of
not limited to), WIMPzillas (e.g. Kolb & Long, 2017) and two invisible components called dark matter (24%) and dark
solitons (B-balls, Q-balls, e.g. Marsh & Pop, 2015). energy (71%). We know of their existence due to the effect
 DARK MATTER AND DARK ENERGY 3

that they have on visible matter. However, we still do not Ellis, J., & Olive, K. A. (2010). Supersymmetric dark matter
know what dark matter and dark energy are truly composed candidates. In G. Bertone (Ed.), Particle dark mat-
of. In this review, we summarise the discovery history of ter : Observations, models and searches (p. 142).
each of these components, discussed their nature and present Gunn, J. E., Lee, B. W., Lerche, I., Schramm, D. N., &
some popular candidates for dark matter and dark energy. Steigman, G. (1978). Some astrophysical conse-
Dark matter might be composed of baryonic or non- quences of the existence of a heavy stable neutral
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energy is an even more mysterious component. There are a dial Velocity among Extra-Galactic Nebulae. Pro-
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Despite the effort that has been dedicated to develop- Huterer, D., & Turner, M. S. (1999). Prospects for probing
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