Dark matter

Dark matter is an unexplained type of matter comprising approximately 27% of the mass and energy in the observable universe^[1]that is not accounted for by dark energy, baryonic matter (ordinary matter), and neutrinos.^[2] The name refers to the fact that it does not emit or interact with electromagnetic radiation, such as light, and is thus invisible to the entire electromagnetic spectrum.^[3]Although dark matter has not been directly observed, its existence and properties are inferred from its gravitational effects such as the motions of visible matter, gravitational lensing, its influence on the universe's large-scale structure, and its effects in the cosmic microwave background. Dark matter is transparent to electromagnetic radiation and/or is so dense and small that it fails to absorb or emit enough radiation to be detectable with current imaging technology.

Estimates of masses for galaxies and larger structures via dynamical and general relativistic means are much greater than those based on the mass of the visible "luminous" matter.^[4]

The standard model of cosmology indicates that the total mass–energy of the universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy.^[5][6] Thus, dark matter constitutes 84.5%^{[note 1]} of total mass, while dark energy plus dark matter constitute 95.1% of total mass–energy content.^{[7][8][9][10]} The great majority of ordinary matter in the universe is also unseen, since visible stars and gas inside galaxies and clusters account for less than 10% of the ordinary matter contribution to the mass-energy density of the universe.^[11]

The dark matter hypothesis plays a central role in current modeling of cosmic structure formation and galaxy formation and evolution and on explanations of the anisotropies observed in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). All these lines of evidence suggest that galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole contain far more matter than that which is observable via electromagnetic signals.^[12]

The most widely accepted hypothesis on the form for dark matter is that it is composed of weakly interacting massive particles(WIMPs) that interact only through gravity and the weak force.^[13]

Although the existence of dark matter is generally accepted by most of the astronomical community, a minority of astronomers ^[14]argue for various modifications of the standard laws of general relativity, such as MOND, TeVeS, and Conformal gravity^[15] that attempt to account for the observations without invoking additional matter.^[16]

Many experiments to detect proposed dark matter particles through non-gravitational means are under way.