In search of the dark

Most of the mass in the Universe is invisible. Evidence for the existence of this so-called dark matter comes from the motions of stars in galaxies and from gravitational lensing. Computer simulations show that dark matter is essential for the Universe to make galaxies, stars, planets and people. However, we do not yet know what dark matter is. All the indications are that it consists of exotic elementary particles created in the early Universe. Indeed, the standard model of cosmogony, the so-called Lambda-CDM model, is based on the hypothesis that the dark matter is an elementary particle of some kind. However, recent data on the satellite galaxies that orbit around the Milky Way suggest that this hypothesis may be incorrect and that the dark matter may be an altogether different kind of beast.

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About Carlos Frenk

Carlos Frenk is the Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics and Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University. He is one of the originators of the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) theory for the formation of cosmic structure. He specializes in supercomputer simulations of the evolution of the Universe. Professor Frenk was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004 and has received various prizes, including the Royal Society Wolfson award, the Hoyle medal, the George Darwin Prize and the 2011 Gruber Cosmology prize. He features regularly on radio and TV.

Carlos Frenk's homepage