AustLit

'Up to now, simulations of dark matter resemble shapes seen in the vast cosmic web that scientists have drawn to depict the universe. That is, the gaseous knots, filaments, and voids which link galaxies betray the shapes of what dark matter is thought to look like. But this mimicry stutters when the centres of those knots, filaments, and voids are observed, and the precise nature of dark matter—particles which make up 80% of the known universe—remains elusive. The task is to find a way to describe the spaces inbetween, because in the heart of the web pattern hunting breaks down; knowledge peters out.

'One clue to the mapping and describing of dark matter might be in the shape and shaping of stellar halos. These ghostly remnants of interactions between galaxies surround observable galaxies as faint halos of starlight. As with the moon and tides, galaxies push and pull each other, their great gravities shaping the fabric of their neighbours and viceversa: galaxies are cannibals, and the larger ones strip the thinning edges of smaller, star-massed bodies. These surrounding edges—made up of stars and gasses escaping the rims of the galaxies in which they were born—build up stellar halos. Within this cloud must be, somewhere, dark matter: that is the only current explanation for the terrific mass which is measurable and impactful within and without stellar halos, but which remains unseen. Chris’s research attempts to understand the differences latent in the maps we make of the universe, with the aim of producing a phenomenological model that matches observed data with theoretical models. The big question is something like this: Using models of what we can already observe in the universe, can measurements be made to pin down what dark matter is? Perhaps, this questions suggests, by drawing maps, something impossible to describe can be sensed.

'Daniel, as a creative writer, is inspired by a differing interpretation of phenomenology: he is looking for clues to aid both his descriptions of the past, and his understanding of how the past is formed in consciousness. Thus, this dialogue on the shape and form of matter will dwell on how constructions of the past are shaped; it will linger on vastness which cannot yet be described—the 80% of the universe which is dark matter, and the mysterious shapes of the past behind us. The gravitational pull of dark matter moves galaxies, forces them to touch and kiss and burst; the dark shapes of the past push and pull the present, and make patterns yet to be understood.' (Publication abstract)