Vejleder: Mads Toudal Frandsen
Projektbeskrivelse
One of the biggest problems in particle physics and astrophysics is the ’missing mass problem’.
From observations of galaxies and galaxy clusters we infer that the known matter and elementary particles only constitutes a fraction of the mass in the Universe. The rest, about 5 times as much is termed Dark Matter.
Finding the new elementary particles assumed to constitute Dark Matter is one of the biggest problems and research fields in particle physics. But is it real?
An alternative explanation of the ’missing mass problem’ is that gravity is stronger than what Newton or Einstein have postulated. The most studied version goes under the name of Modified Newtonian Dynamics. This is a priori possibility since in all the observations from which we infer the existence of dark we are really observing more gravitational pull on stars and galaxies than ordinary matter with ordinary gravity can deliver.
In this project we will investigate models of DM and modified Newtonian Dynamics using data on rotation curves of stars in Galaxies and possibly Galaxy clusters with the ambition of finding a way to establish if the solution to the missing mass problem really is DM or rather MOND.
You will be able to study and work with state-of-the-art research articles and make your own independent analysis of data from rotation curves of stars in Galaxies and in Galaxy clusters with the ambition of finding a way to establish if MOND or Dark Matter is correct.