Dark matter/energy gravitation: Constraints from astrophysics

最近，人们对超新星的距离和星系间辐射场强度的波动进行了精确的测量。大多数宇宙学家现在承认，宇宙既比他们想象的简单，也比他们想象的复杂。但它更简单，因为它的密度接近爱因斯坦广义相对论中出现的一个特定值。但它更复杂，因为大部分物质是暗物质和暗能量，这意味着需要修改这一基本理论。人们还普遍认为，有必要扩展爱因斯坦的理论，将引力与粒子物理的相互作用统一起来。我们的团队在暗物质/能量和扩展引力理论方面都有专业知识。我们的目标是利用天体物理数据识别前者，约束后者。在我们最新的资金申请中，我们希望关注几个相关的问题：暗物质是由弱相互作用质量粒子(WIMP)组成的吗？它的一部分是萨德伯里中微子天文台探测到的难以捉摸的粒子，即大质量中微子吗？暗能量是一个衰变的宇宙学“常量”的残余物，还是另一个标量场？如果是这样的话，我们如何修正爱因斯坦的理论？对于这种新理论，是否还有其他可行的测试，与星系的运动和测试质量在绕地球轨道运行的卫星上的行为有关？我们打算解决这些问题，并通过观察来面对它们，以便更好地理解宇宙。

Recently, precise measurements have been made of the distances to supernovas and the fluctuations in intensity of the radiation field between the galaxies. Most cosmologists now admit that the universe is both simpler and more complicated than they thought.  It is simpler in that its density is close to a special value which arises in Einstein's theory of general relativity.  But it is more complicated because the bulk of the material is dark matter and dark energy, which imply a need to revise that underlying theory. It is also widely acknowledged that there is a need to extend Einstein's theory as a means of unifying the force of gravity with the interactions of particle physics. Our group has expertise in both dark matter/energy and extended gravitational theory. Our aims are to identify the former and constrain the latter, using astrophysical data.  In this our latest application for funds, we wish to focus on several related problems: Is the dark matter composed of weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs)? Is some part of it the elusive particles being detected by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, i.e. massive neutrinos? Is the dark energy the remnant of a decaying cosmological "constant", or another scalar field, and if so then how can we modify Einstein's theory? Are there other viable tests of such a new theory, to do with the motions of galaxies and the behaviour of test masses abroad a satellite in orbit around the Earth? We intend to work out these issues and confront them with observations, in order to better understand the universe.