We now know that galaxies have gigantic halos made up of dark matter. Does the Earth also have that halo? If so, we would be living inside this halo. Based on the research done so far, it is very likely that the Earth possesses a halo of low-density dark matter because there are numerous sources for the Earth to receive and draw dark matter into its gravitational influence. We also know that there is a mutual affinity between dark and ordinary matter throughout the universe.
Dark Matter within the Solar System
Our Solar System and Earth lie within the dark matter halo of our galaxy, the Milky Way. D Lin, an astronomer at the University of California, calculates that our galaxy’s dark matter halo is equivalent to 600 to 800 billion solar masses, compared to just 100 billion solar masses of visible matter. As our Solar System orbits the galaxy at a speed of almost 220 km per second, it sweeps up the invisible sea of dark matter particles in the galaxy. Every kilogram of matter on Earth scatters up to a thousand WIMPs (ie dark matter particles) per day.
The Solar System itself is sitting on an interstellar cloud of dark matter. The existence of the cloud and its geometry can be inferred from its effect on the spectra of nearby stars and cosmic rays. Priscilla Frisch of the University of Chicago calculates that our Solar System first encountered the cloud (moving at right angles to it) between 2,000 and 8,000 years ago.
Clouds of dark matter passing through the Earth
Jürg Diemand, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, and colleagues say the calculations suggest that small clouds of dark matter, which could be detected by future space missions, regularly pass by Earth. He says that perhaps a million trillion of them float around the dark matter halo of our galaxy. These clouds float across the Earth every 10,000 years in an encounter that lasts about 50 years, according to Diemand. However, they do not affect the (physical) Earth with any appreciable effect. Their relatively low densities mean they could only push our planet out of its normal orbit by less than a millionth of a meter per second.
Dark matter particles ejected from the sun
According to researchers at the University of Oxford (as reported in the new scientist journal), the Sun harbors a vast reservoir of dark matter. Astrophysicists Ilidio Lopes and Joe Silk reasoned that passing dark matter particles would be captured by the gravity of heavy bodies like the Sun. In addition to heat and light, the Sun constantly emits low-density plasma of charged electrons and protons called “solar wind”, which shoots out from the Sun in all directions at very high speeds to fill the entire Solar System and beyond. Solar wind and much higher energy particles ejected by solar flares can have dramatic effects on Earth ranging from power line surges and radio interference to the beautiful and mesmerizing Northern Lights. Science has largely analyzed the composition of this solar wind, until now, and it consists only of ordinary matter in the form of plasma. If there is a large reservoir of dark matter in the Sun, as certain scientists are convinced, it is a logical next step to expect that dark matter particles captured by the Sun from various sources will also be ejected from the Sun in its solar wind. just like the particles of ordinary matter. Trillions of dark matter particles from the Sun would be hitting Earth every minute.
Dark matter particles raining down from a dwarf galaxy
Astrophysicist Heidi Newberg of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and colleagues suggest that dark matter may be raining down on Earth from the “Sagittarius” dwarf galaxy. For eons, the Milky Way has been sucking in and tearing apart Sagittarius, which is about a tenth the size of the Milky Way. Newberg and other astronomers recently discovered two “tails” or streams of stars coming out of Sagittarius. The streams are also thought to contain dark matter particles. Our Solar System sits on one of these streams. Thus, we are caught in the middle of a rapid stream of dark matter particles, billions of them passing through every square meter of Earth (and our bodies) every second at speeds of more than a million kilometers per hour. Day after day, countless random particles of dark matter rain down on Earth and through our bodies undetected.
Density of Earth’s dark matter halo
If trillions of dark matter particles pass through ordinary matter, the Earth and our bodies every few seconds, then it would not be difficult for the Earth to capture these particles under its gravitational influence. Dark matter could also be present during the formation of the Solar System, so that ordinary and dark matter worked together to form our Solar System. Perhaps the Pioneer anomaly was also caused by the presence of clumps of dark matter in the Solar System, as Marcus Chown surmised.
However, it appears (ignoring the effects of any dark energy) that any dark matter that is present in the Solar System must be of low density. First of all, this is because planets obey Newton’s laws of gravity, unlike stars at the edge of galaxies. (Dark energy has a repulsive gravitational effect. To what extent this would neutralize the attractive gravitational pull of dark matter within the Solar System is a matter of conjecture.) Second, the density is low based on extrapolations from the density of dark matter in the local halo, which is about 0.3 GeV/cm3. The Earth-Sun distance is about 1.5 X 10^13 cm. So the amount of dark matter locked inside the Earth’s orbit is about 10^40 GeV. For comparison, the mass of the Sun is about 10^57 GeV. So the enclosed dark matter is 10^-17 of the mass of the Sun. Therefore, it has a negligible effect on the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. According to these estimates, the average density of dark matter is much lower (a trillion trillion times lower) than that of rocks, water, and other substances normally found on Earth.
Is this density underestimated?
The numerous sources of dark matter particles suggest that there could be a local excess of dark matter in our Solar System above the galactic background. However, since the orbits of the planets follow Newton’s laws of gravity very closely, the excess cannot be significant (barring the effects of any dark energy).
However, Newton’s laws of gravity require the mass of the Earth to be entered. This mass is calculated based on the gravitational acceleration measured at different places on Earth. East assume from the beginning that acceleration is due only to ordinary matter. The contribution of any dark matter on Earth has been ignored. A similar assumption is made when calculating the mass of the Sun and the other planets. Scientists have speculated that there could be a large reservoir of dark matter inside the Earth. David Peat says that the best calculations suggest that our Earth could contain up to 10 percent of matter in the shadow. Shadow matter (consisting of supersymmetric particles and objects) is generally considered the same as dark matter (which also consists of supersymmetric particles and objects).
Dark matter halos, as large as our Solar System and with the mass of the Earth, were the first structures to form in the universe, according to calculations by scientists at the University of Zurich. If we could allow 10 percent of the Earth’s mass to be in the form of dark matter, this would mean a halo one-tenth the size of the Solar System; this is really huge relative to the size of the visible Earth. The visible Earth would appear to be a small stone sitting within this gigantic halo.
Transcendence
Based on the discussion above, there is no doubt that there is dark matter in the Solar System and on Earth. What are the implications? If we live inside a dark matter halo and there is a mutual affinity between dark and ordinary matter, do objects on Earth (including our physical bodies) have low-density dark matter halos? Does dark matter also play a role in the formation of our visible bodies just as it probably did in the formation of the visible Solar System? Can these low-density halos organize themselves into life forms (just like physical matter), survive the death of physical bodies, and evolve independently of life forms composed of ordinarily visible (or measurable) physical matter?
According to plasma metaphysics, a significant amount of dark matter is in the form of (magnetic) plasma of super (ie, supersymmetric) particles. See the author’s article on dark plasma. A gas of low density of dark matter particles (which has no electrical properties) would probably not have allowed the development of life forms composed of dark matter. However, plasma consists of electrically conductive soups of charged particles that collectively respond to electromagnetic forces and are generally (almost) neutral. Renowned plasma physicist David Bohm was surprised to discover that once electrons were in a plasma, they stopped behaving as individuals and began to behave as if they were part of a larger, interconnected whole. He later commented that he was often under the impression that the sea of electrons in a plasma was alive in some sense. Unlike the particles within atoms, the particles in magnetic plasma have far-reaching effects and correlations; and each particle has an electric field. In other words, field effects become dominant. The invisible spaces between the widely dispersed particles in a low-density plasma are not empty: they contain electric fields and dynamic magnetic field lines that twist and turn, generating complex dynamics in the plasma. There is a network of filamentary currents in the plasma.
Therefore, even a low-density plasma of (supersymmetric, massive) dark matter particles in the Solar System and on Earth could have significant effects on the formation of the Earth and our physical bodies due to the properties of its electromagnetic field. .
©Copyright Jay Alfred 2007