The standard model for how galaxies formed in the early universe predicted that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would see dim signals from small, primitive galaxies. But data are not confirming the popular hypothesis that invisible dark matter helped the earliest stars and galaxies clump together.
The standard model for how galaxies formed in the early universe predicted that the James Webb Space Telescope would see dim signals from small, primitive galaxies. But data are not confirming the popular hypothesis that invisible dark matter helped the earliest stars and galaxies clump together.
McGaugh, professor and director of astronomy at Case Western Reserve, said instead of dark matter, modified gravity might have played a role. He says a theory known as MOND, for Modified Newtonian Dynamics, predicted in 1998 that structure formation in the early universe would have happened very quickly -- much faster than the theory of Cold Dark Matter, known as lambda-CDM, predicted.
"Astronomers invented dark matter to explain how you get from a very smooth early universe to big galaxies with lots of empty space between them that we see today," McGaugh said. But even at higher and higher redshift -- looking earlier and earlier into the evolution of the universe -- the signals are larger and brighter than expected.
"The bottom line is, 'I told you so,'" McGaugh said."I was raised to think that saying that was rude, but that's the whole point of the scientific method: Make predictions and then check which come true." He added that finding a theory compatible with both MOND and General Relativity is still a great challenge.
Galaxies Dark Matter Cosmology Big Bang Astronomy Black Holes Space Telescopes
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