Dark matter

A PROPOSED SOLUTION
TO THE

DARK MATTER MYSTERY
BY

ARDESHIR MEHTA CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 2 ASSUMPTIONS MADE AT PRESENT ................................................................................ 2 A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT (AFTER THE MANNER OF EINSTEIN).................................... 3 APPLICATION OF THE ABOVE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT TO REALITY ............................... 3 WHAT DOES MOST OF THE “DARK MATTER” CONSIST OF? ......................................... 4 THE MASS OF LIGHT ................................................................................................... 4 THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT...................................................................................... 5 THIS MASS OF PHOTONS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION ............................................................................................................... 6 FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE ABOVE CONCLUSION ....................................................... 6 THE SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE........................................................................................ 7 PHOTONS GENERATED BY QUASARS ............................................................................. 8 THE CURVATURE OF THE UNIVERSE ............................................................................. 9 PHOTONS GENERATED BY HOT GAS .......................................................................... 10 PHOTONS FROM EARLY STARS................................................................................... 11 OTHER KINDS OF EMANATIONS ................................................................................. 12 THE REMNANTS OF BURNT OUT STARS AND OTHER ASTRONOMICAL ENTITIES ......... 13 THE PRODUCTS OF BURNING OF VERY MASSIVE STARS .............................................. 13 THE PRODUCTS OF BURNING OF SMALLER STARS....................................................... 14 HOW MANY PHOTONS ARE THERE IN THE UNIVERSE? ............................................... 15 THE MASS OF GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY ..................................................................... 18 MASS GENERATED BY VELOCITIES OF OBJECTS MOVING AT SPEEDS NEAR THAT OF LIGHT.................................................................................................................... 20 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................ 22

A PROPOSED SOLUTION
TO THE

DARK MATTER MYSTERY
BY

ARDESHIR MEHTA

INTRODUCTION
For several decades it has been believed that the mass of the universe is much greater than can be accounted for by the massof the luminous matter in it. As an example, the force of gravity produced by each galaxy – which in turn is affected by the distribution of mass in the galaxy – seems to be inadequate to counter the centrifugal force generated by the rotational motion of the stars in the galaxy. As things stand, given their speed, the stars in a rotating galaxy all ought to fly off at a tangent from the galaxy,which does not seem to happening. So if the stars are held in their orbits by gravity alone, there must be some mass drawing the stars in towards the centre of the galaxy. To give another example, the gravitational pull generated by the mass of all the stars in all the observed galaxies is not sufficient to account for the clustering and super-clustering of galaxies in the manner they appear to beclustered in the visible universe. Without some “missing mass” pulling them together, there does not seem to be any explanation as to why they are all so close to each other. Consequently, it has been estimated that at least 50 per cent, and maybe as much as 90 per cent – some scientists say, 95 or even 99 per cent – of the mass of the universe is in the form of “dark matter”: namely, matter...