Dark energy / dark matter theory from WMAP data hitting some bumps...

[silylene old]

I have been seeing some serious (and good) papers being published which are criticising the "dark energy" theory as being founded upon sloppy curve fitting and lack of statistical rigor.<br /><br />Here are a couple which appear also on the web:<br />http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/~genovese/talks/stanford-04.pdf<br />http://www.arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0401/0401198.pdf<br /><br />According to fits of the WMAP data, the universe is made up of:<br />4% "normal" matter<br />23% "dark matter"<br />72% "dark energy"<br /><br />Here is the fit to the data. The data fit to the second hump is questionable, and the data fit to the third hump is a fantasy.<br /><br />If the "dark energy" theory gets retracted, this will be humiliating for some. <br /><br />Or am I misunderstanding the debate ? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[rogers_buck]

Imagine, dark energy going the way of Ether and Flogestan.

 

[silylene old]

The graph (waiting for approval in the first post above) is the observed power spectrum for the cosmic microwave background (CMB).<br /><br />As I understand it, the shape of the CMB is a result of the compressions and rarefactions in the fundamental waves of the early expanding universe. The size/shape of the first big hump gives information about the curvature of the universe. The second hump relates to gravity counteracting sonic motion and thus gives information especially on the amount of matter. The third hump gives information about the amount of dark matter.<br /><br />But that third hump sure looks like a fantasy to me and apparently some statistical mathematicians. I had never seen the data points earlier. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>