Mapping Dark Matter with Gravitational Lenses

JUN 01, 1992

Most of the matter in the cosmos can’t be seen directly at any wavelength. But we can map and weigh great clumps of this dark matter as they bend the light shining through them from distant background galaxies.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881309

Anthony Tyson

Through the long‐range force of gravity, mass controls the evolution of the universe. Studies of the internal motion of large, gravitationally bound systems such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies have already shown us, rather convincingly, that the mass in these systems is dominated by some form of matter that is not luminous at any wavelength from radio to x ray. (See the article by Scott Tremaine in PHYSICS TODAY, February, page 28.)

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