Dark Matter and Dark Energy: An Introduction to the New Cosmology

Mike Guidry, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Over little more than a decade, observations of distant Type Ia supernovae and detailed mapping of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation have transformed cosmology from a notoriously qualitative discipline to a science grounded in precision measurement (but still with ample room for traditional wild-hare speculation). Perhaps the most surprising outcome has been the accumulating evidence that the overwhelming bulk of mass-energy in the Universe is of a form that we have never observed in the laboratory, and that is very different from the traditional matter and energy that we see around us every day. These go by the somewhat fanciful names of "dark matter" and "dark energy", because we observe their gravitational influence in many contexts but so far have not been able to detect them by any other means. I will give an overview of why we believe dark matter and dark energy exist, and discuss their consequences for cosmology. I will conclude by describing our own efforts to help discriminate among theories for the source of dark energy through an improved theoretical understanding of the Type Ia supernova mechanism.

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