Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Lewis Thomson on 22/02/2022 11:53:49

Title: Does dark matter interact with dark energy?
Post by: Lewis Thomson on 22/02/2022 11:53:49
Bojescu is looking for answers to this question.

"Does dark matter interact with dark energy as normal matter does with normal energy following Einstein's formula : E=mc^2?"

What do you think? Leave your answers down below...
Title: Re: Does dark matter interact with dark energy?
Post by: Origin on 22/02/2022 12:45:40
"Does dark matter interact with dark energy as normal matter does with normal energy following Einstein's formula : E=mc^2?"
I would say no.  Assuming dark matter is a particle then it's mass would be the same as normal matter in the equation E=mc^2.  In other words the 'm' can be normal matter or dark matter.
Title: Re: Does dark matter interact with dark energy?
Post by: Eternal Student on 22/02/2022 17:58:18
Hi.

  I'm inclined to agree with @Origin .  Hopefully we've interpreted the question correctly.  If we haven't, perhaps Bojescu would let us know.

"Does dark matter interact with dark energy as normal matter does with normal energy following Einstein's formula : E=mc^2?"
    Origin and I have both interpreted the question this way:

Is dark energy just the energy you get from E = mc2    where the m you've chosen to put in to that formula was the mass of some dark matter?
     Or to phrase it another way:    Bojescu seems to appreciate that if you annihilate  an amount of ordinary matter with mass m  then you get an amount of energy E given by E = mc2.       
    The question is -  if you annihilate an amount of dark matter with mass  MDark   do you get an amount of dark energy EDark = MDark c2   ?

The answer is exactly  as @Origin  presented.  No.
   "Dark Energy" isn't Energy it just has the word "energy" in its name.   I'm not entirely sure the description "Dark" was required or appropriate either to be honest.

    We don't know exactly what dark matter is, but the main opinion is that it probably is something made from some sort of particle that we haven't really identified yet.    Assuming that you could annihilate dark matter,  then it would produce an equivalent amount of energy, just ordinary energy not "dark energy"  given  by  E = mc2   where  m = the mass of the dark matter annihilated.

     Meanwhile,  "Dark Energy" would take a lot longer to explain.   It's reasonable to just replace the name entirely and call it something like "badly behaved gravity",   or    "this thing which explains why the expansion of space is accelerating".    There are many other threads where dark energy has been discussed.   The most important thing for now is just to realise that dark energy isn't some sort of energy that some object can have.   Instead, it's some strange property, possibly some sort of substance, that space seems to have.

Best Wishes.
   
Title: Re: Does dark matter interact with dark energy?
Post by: evan_au on 23/02/2022 01:52:46
Quote from: Eternal Student
Assuming that you could annihilate dark matter
Some astronomers are trying to discover hypothetical Dark Matter particles by searching near the center of the galaxy (where it is thought that Dark Matter would be more concentrated), and looking for X-Rays or Gamma rays that might indicate that a hypothetical Dark Matter particle had annihilated with its hypothetical Dark Matter antiparticle.

No big announcements yet....

Quote from: OP
Does dark matter interact with dark energy as normal matter does
Dark Energy causes two distant lumps of normal matter (eg two galaxies) to move away from each other at an accelerating rate.

But the mass of the visible galaxy we see is mostly made up of Dark Matter.
So Dark Energy does cause two distant lumps of Dark Matter (eg two galaxies) to move away from each other at an accelerating rate.