Dark matter research paper question

[LailaR]

I'm writing a thesis for my high school research paper on dark matter. It's difficult to come up with a claim that is argumentative, engaging, and related to the research I've done on the scientific process in relation to theories about dark matter.

Do you think I could reasonably argue that efforts to explain dark matter should shift from particle searches to other explanations?

WIMP detectors have yet to find convincing evidence of particles that could make up dark matter. This could be because there aren't such particles or because the detectors aren't sensitive enough. Is it worthwhile to keep designing and building increasingly sensitive detectors to search for something that doesn't necessarily exist? Other explanations haven't been ruled out yet.

 

[Orodruin]

Is it worthwhile to keep designing and building increasingly sensitive detectors to search for something that doesn't necessarily exist?

How else are you going to learn whether they exist or not? I am not saying it is necessarily worthwhile, but the fundamental idea of science is that you must test your theories. Of course, if you continue not finding something with more and more sensitive experiments, the scientific interest typically shifts away from those theories.

 

[jedishrfu]

However look at the search for gravitational waves started in the 1960's with the Weber bar:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber_bar

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/timeline

and concluded with LIGO. Experimental science is all about getting more and more sensitive equipment to detect ever more faint phenomena. We still have a long way to go before we reach the Planck scale of things that is string theory.

Here's a tribute to Prof Weber:

https://www.insidescience.org/news/man-who-might-have-won-nobel-prize

 

[LailaR]

How else are you going to learn whether they exist or not?

I see your point. Do you have any advice on where else I could take my general research about dark matter theories to turn it into a thesis-driven research paper?

 

[jedishrfu]

You could investigate the MOND theory perhaps which says that gravity doesn't behave like an inverse square law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Newtonian_dynamics

You might suggest ways to test it maybe using LIGO alone or something like multi-messenger astronomy.

 

[PeroK]

I see your point. Do you have any advice on where else I could take my general research about dark matter theories to turn it into a thesis-driven research paper?

I was thinking that an analysis of the situation might be worth doing. The alternatives to WIMP are not promising but dark matter detection has not succeeded so far. Science is hard! You never really know when you are in a dead end street. Nature can be elusive.

 

[LailaR]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll definitely look into MOND more.

 

[jedishrfu]

Here's a recent article about dark matter discovery using starlight between galaxies:

https://www.sciencealert.com/starli...stronomers-to-see-where-dark-matter-is-hiding

 

[strangerep]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'll definitely look into MOND more.

Here's some references to help you on your way...

1) Famaey & McGaugh,
"Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND): Observational Phenomenology and Relativistic Extensions".
https://link.springer.com/article/10.12942/lrr-2012-10

2) Stacey McGaugh's Dark Matter Course homepage. (This could be too advanced for a high school project, but you might at least gain an appreciation of the breadth of the subject, and the challenges involved in trying to sort out the puzzle of galactic rotation curves.)