Massey 2007 暗物质在宇宙中的分布 3

主要内容:
通过引力透镜效应，给出了暗物质在宇宙中角向和径向的分布。

精彩摘抄:
重子物质和暗物质（contour图）的大尺度结构对比。

文章信息:

Letter

Nature 445, 286-290 (18 January 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature05497; Received 14 November 2006; Accepted 30 November 2006; Published online 7 January 2007

Dark matter maps reveal cosmic scaffolding

Richard Massey¹, Jason Rhodes^1,2, Richard Ellis¹, Nick Scoville¹, Alexie Leauthaud³, Alexis Finoguenov⁴, Peter Capak¹, David Bacon⁵, Hervé Aussel⁶, Jean-Paul Kneib³, Anton Koekemoer⁷, Henry McCracken⁸, Bahram Mobasher⁷, Sandrine Pires⁹, Alexandre Refregier⁶, Shunji Sasaki¹⁰, Jean-Luc Starck⁹, Yoshi Taniguchi¹⁰, Andy Taylor⁵ and James Taylor¹¹

Abstract

Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe^{1, 2, 3}. The remainder is a mysterious 'dark matter' component, which does not interact via electromagnetism and thus neither emits nor reflects light. As dark matter cannot be seen directly using traditional observations, very little is currently known about its properties. It does interact via gravity, and is most effectively probed through gravitational lensing: the deflection of light from distant galaxies by the gravitational attraction of foreground mass concentrations^{4, 5}. This is a purely geometrical effect that is free of astrophysical assumptions and sensitive to all matter—whether baryonic or dark^{6, 7}. Here we show high-fidelity maps of the large-scale distribution of dark matter, resolved in both angle and depth. We find a loose network of filaments, growing over time, which intersect in massive structures at the locations of clusters of galaxies. Our results are consistent with predictions of gravitationally induced structure formation^{8, 9}, in which the initial, smooth distribution of dark matter collapses into filaments then into clusters, forming a gravitational scaffold into which gas can accumulate, and stars can be built¹⁰.