Jamie Farnes

Last updated

Jamie Farnes
Born1984 (age 39–40)
Cornwall, England, UK
NationalityBritish
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Scientific career
Fields Physics (astrophysics)
Institutions University of Oxford

Jamie S. Farnes (born 1984) is a British cosmologist, astrophysicist, and radio astronomer based at the University of Oxford. He studies dark energy, dark matter, cosmic magnetic fields, and the large-scale structure of the universe. In 2018, it was announced by Oxford that Farnes may have simultaneously solved both the dark energy and dark matter problems, using a new negative mass dark fluid toy model that "brings balance to the universe". [1] [2]

Contents

In 2019, the Farnes Universe was listed as one of the top 10 dark matter candidates. [3]

Education

Farnes was born in Cornwall, England, UK. He attended Saltash Community School, studied at Royal Holloway graduating with a BSc with first class honours in theoretical physics (2008), followed by a PhD in astrophysics from the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge (2012). Farnes was also a member of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology and studied at Trinity Hall College where Stephen Hawking had previously completed his PhD.

Career

From 2012 to 2015, Farnes was an Associate Lecturer at the University of Sydney and within the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics. In 2015 he briefly moved to the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, before he took up an appointment as an Excellence Fellow at Radboud University Nijmegen.

In 2017, he moved back to the UK as a Research Associate at the Oxford e-Research Centre within the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford.

In 2019, it was reported that Farnes has since moved on to Faculty, a leading Artificial Intelligence company. [4]

Farnes' current work is on the development of science pipelines for the Square Kilometre Array, a next-generation radio telescope that will generate 5 zettabytes (5 million petabytes) of data each year – a data rate equivalent to 5 times the estimated global internet traffic in 2015. Farnes is a member of two SKA Science Working Groups. [5] [6]

Farnes is also a member of the Executive Committee for the POSSUM survey with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, [7] on the Board of the Very Large Array Survey Science Group and co-chair of the Extragalactic Working Group to map the radio universe, [8] and a core member of the LOFAR telescope based in the Netherlands [9] He is engaged in public engagement and has written articles for The Conversation , [10] communicated his work in interviews over the Periscope platform, [11] and previously run the CAASTRO in the Classroom program funded by the Australian Research Council. [12] [13]

Research

In 2014, Farnes created a "rainbow of radio data" to solve a problem about whether magnetic fields in space are intrinsic to radio-wave emitting galaxies or quasars, or whether they are much closer to Earth—in intervening gas clouds. Farnes and his colleagues were able to show that the magnetic field is usually related to the galaxy or quasar itself and were able to discern the different effects of the core of the galaxy or quasar, and of its radio-emitting 'lobes'. [14]

In 2015, he and Bryan Gaensler calculated that the cosmic magnetic fields in ancient galaxies are much stronger than was previously believed, requiring "magnetic fields to be the same strength 7 billion years ago as they are today" [15] In 2017, the American Astronomical Society announced that Farnes had used the Very Large Array to make the first detailed study of the evolution of protogalaxies in the early universe and came up with a creative alternative which suggests that a more exotic dynamo theory must be at play throughout the cosmos. [16]

In 2018, it was reported across international media that Farnes may have solved the mystery of dark energy and dark matter by unifying them into a dark fluid with negative mass. This work reinvoked the creation tensor previously suggested by Fred Hoyle, but only for negative masses. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

Cosmological model

Farnes published a peer-reviewed scientific paper in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics that makes use of theory, simulations, and observations to study continuously-created negative masses. The paper suggests that "the compelling puzzle of the dark Universe may have been due to a simple sign error" and leads to a cyclic universe with a time-variable Hubble parameter, potentially providing compatibility with the current tension that is emerging in cosmological measurements. [28] The paper states that it was motivated based upon a statement by Albert Einstein, who had written that the cosmological constant required that "empty space takes the role of gravitating negative masses which are distributed all over the interstellar space". [29] [30]

Farnes' theory has created much debate within the scientific community. Krzysztof Bolejko, physicist at the University of Tasmania in Australia, says "Farnes' maths is fine", and that his hunch is that: "Inside cosmic voids the signal will be clearer and so it will be easier to distinguish between processes caused by dark energy and those caused by a constantly created matter with negative mass". [31] Alex Murphy, Professor of Nuclear & Particle Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, said the findings were interesting and elegant: "It’s one of many efforts trying to provide answers to deeply troubling issues with our understanding of the contents of the universe. It’s just possible that an idea like this might provide the breakthrough that’s needed". [32] Geraint Lewis, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney, said: "On the face of it, it comes up with some of the features of our universe, but the question is now: Can it explain the other observations we have of the universe. There's a whole bunch of tests we have to do first before we can say this is equivalent to our current understanding, and then we need to find out what predictions this model makes that the current cosmological model would fail at. We've always got to be pushing the frontier of fundamental physics because every time we open up a new area – at first it seems esoteric and weird, but eventually it flows into our everyday lives". [33]

However, others were more critical with Sabine Hossenfelder saying that: "negative masses have not revolutionized cosmology", "Farnes in his paper instead wants negative gravitational masses to mutually repel each other. But general relativity won’t let you do this", and "A creation term is basically a magic fix by which you can explain everything and anything". This was contested by Farnes who submitted a comment that "Your disagreement appears to be with the work of Bondi, who showed that these negative masses are compatible with GR." and that "A creation term is also not 'a magic fix by which you can explain everything and anything'. That is incredibly misleading. It provides very exact and specific well-defined physical properties." [34] Wired magazine were also critical about the work, with their Business Editor stating that "his theory isn’t the issue. It’s how Oxford University and Farnes himself communicated it to the wider public." [35] Later the same month, Wired published a second article stating: "Farnes is careful to point out that his ideas are speculative, and it is still unclear whether they are consistent with prior telescope observations and dark matter experiments". [36] The Age then published an article about a "radical new model of the universe" and claimed "it’s good to remember that the ideas of Einstein and many others were controversial when first published". [37]

Farnes claims that definitive proof of this theory will come from measurements of the distribution of galaxies throughout the history of the universe using the Square Kilometre Array telescope, which will come online in 2030. [38] [39]

Related Research Articles

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The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. It was first proposed in 1927 by Roman Catholic priest and physicist Georges Lemaître. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale form. These models offer a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and large-scale structure. The overall uniformity of the universe, known as the flatness problem, is explained through cosmic inflation: a sudden and very rapid expansion of space during the earliest moments. However, physics currently lacks a widely accepted theory of quantum gravity that can successfully model the earliest conditions of the Big Bang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Physical cosmology</span> Branch of cosmology which studies mathematical models of the universe

Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fundamental questions about its origin, structure, evolution, and ultimate fate. Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed those physical laws to be understood.

In astronomy, dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter that appears not to interact with light or the electromagnetic field. Dark matter is implied by gravitational effects which cannot be explained by general relativity unless more matter is present than can be seen. Such effects occur in the context of formation and evolution of galaxies, gravitational lensing, the observable universe's current structure, mass position in galactic collisions, the motion of galaxies within galaxy clusters, and cosmic microwave background anisotropies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmological constant</span> Constant representing stress–energy density of the vacuum

In cosmology, the cosmological constant, alternatively called Einstein's cosmological constant, is the constant coefficient of a term that Albert Einstein temporarily added to his field equations of general relativity. He later removed it, however much later it was revived and reinterpreted as the energy density of space, or vacuum energy, that arises in quantum mechanics. It is closely associated with the concept of dark energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accelerating expansion of the universe</span> Cosmological phenomenon

Observations show that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, such that the velocity at which a distant galaxy recedes from the observer is continuously increasing with time. The accelerated expansion of the universe was discovered in 1998 by two independent projects, the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z Supernova Search Team, which used distant type Ia supernovae to measure the acceleration. The idea was that as type Ia supernovae have almost the same intrinsic brightness, and since objects that are farther away appear dimmer, the observed brightness of these supernovae can be used to measure the distance to them. The distance can then be compared to the supernovae's cosmological redshift, which measures how much the universe has expanded since the supernova occurred; the Hubble law established that the farther away that an object is, the faster it is receding. The unexpected result was that objects in the universe are moving away from one another at an accelerating rate. Cosmologists at the time expected that recession velocity would always be decelerating, due to the gravitational attraction of the matter in the universe. Three members of these two groups have subsequently been awarded Nobel Prizes for their discovery. Confirmatory evidence has been found in baryon acoustic oscillations, and in analyses of the clustering of galaxies.

The ultimate fate of the universe is a topic in physical cosmology, whose theoretical restrictions allow possible scenarios for the evolution and ultimate fate of the universe to be described and evaluated. Based on available observational evidence, deciding the fate and evolution of the universe has become a valid cosmological question, being beyond the mostly untestable constraints of mythological or theological beliefs. Several possible futures have been predicted by different scientific hypotheses, including that the universe might have existed for a finite and infinite duration, or towards explaining the manner and circumstances of its beginning.

A non-standard cosmology is any physical cosmological model of the universe that was, or still is, proposed as an alternative to the then-current standard model of cosmology. The term non-standard is applied to any theory that does not conform to the scientific consensus. Because the term depends on the prevailing consensus, the meaning of the term changes over time. For example, hot dark matter would not have been considered non-standard in 1990, but would have been in 2010. Conversely, a non-zero cosmological constant resulting in an accelerating universe would have been considered non-standard in 1990, but is part of the standard cosmology in 2010.

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In theoretical physics, negative mass is a hypothetical type of exotic matter whose mass is of opposite sign to the mass of normal matter, e.g. −1 kg. Such matter would violate one or more energy conditions and exhibit strange properties such as the oppositely oriented acceleration for an applied force orientation. It is used in certain speculative hypothetical technologies, such as time travel to the past and future, construction of traversable artificial wormholes, which may also allow for time travel, Krasnikov tubes, the Alcubierre drive, and potentially other types of faster-than-light warp drives. Currently, the closest known real representative of such exotic matter is a region of negative pressure density produced by the Casimir effect.

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The Lambda-CDM, Lambda cold dark matter, or ΛCDM model is a mathematical model of the Big Bang theory with three major components:

  1. a cosmological constant denoted by lambda (Λ) associated with dark energy
  2. the postulated cold dark matter denoted by CDM
  3. ordinary matter
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-Frequency Array</span> Radio telescope network located mainly in the Netherlands

The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) is a large radio telescope, with an antenna network located mainly in the Netherlands, and spreading across 7 other European countries as of 2019. Originally designed and built by ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, it was first opened by Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands in 2010, and has since been operated on behalf of the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) partnership by ASTRON.

Phantom energy is a hypothetical form of dark energy satisfying the equation of state with . It possesses negative kinetic energy, and predicts expansion of the universe in excess of that predicted by a cosmological constant, which leads to a Big Rip. The idea of phantom energy is often dismissed, as it would suggest that the vacuum is unstable with negative mass particles bursting into existence. The concept is hence tied to emerging theories of a continuously created negative mass dark fluid, in which the cosmological constant can vary as a function of time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryan Gaensler</span> Australian astronomer

Bryan Malcolm Gaensler is an Australian astronomer based at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He studies magnetars, supernova remnants, and magnetic fields. In 2014, he was appointed as Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, after James R. Graham's departure. He was the co-chair of the Canadian 2020 Long Range Plan Committee with Pauline Barmby. In 2023, he was appointed as Dean of Physical and Biological Sciences at UC Santa Cruz.

Astroparticle physics, also called particle astrophysics, is a branch of particle physics that studies elementary particles of astronomical origin and their relation to astrophysics and cosmology. It is a relatively new field of research emerging at the intersection of particle physics, astronomy, astrophysics, detector physics, relativity, solid state physics, and cosmology. Partly motivated by the discovery of neutrino oscillation, the field has undergone rapid development, both theoretically and experimentally, since the early 2000s.

In astronomy and cosmology, dark fluid theories attempt to explain dark matter and dark energy in a single framework. The theory proposes that dark matter and dark energy are not separate physical phenomena, nor do they have separate origins, but that they are strongly linked together and can be considered as two facets of a single fluid. At galactic scales, the dark fluid behaves like dark matter, and at larger scales its behavior becomes similar to dark energy.

In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. Its primary effect is to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. Assuming that the lambda-CDM model of cosmology is correct, dark energy is the dominant component of the universe, contributing 68% of the total energy in the present-day observable universe while dark matter and ordinary (baryonic) matter contribute 26% and 5%, respectively, and other components such as neutrinos and photons are nearly negligible. Dark energy's density is very low: 6×10−10 J/m3, much less than the density of ordinary matter or dark matter within galaxies. However, it dominates the universe's mass–energy content because it is uniform across space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primordial black hole</span> Hypothetical black hole formed soon after the Big Bang

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References

  1. ↑ "Bringing balance to the Universe". University of Oxford.
  2. ↑ "Bringing balance to the universe: New theory could explain missing 95 percent of the cosmos". Phys.Org.
  3. ↑ "Et si la matière noire était... de l'antimatière". Ciel et Espace. 28 August 2019.
  4. ↑ "Astrophysicist claims "dark fluid" fills the missing 95% of the Universe". Big Think.
  5. ↑ "SKA Telescope". SKA Telescope.
  6. ↑ "SKA Telescope". SKA Telescope.
  7. ↑ "The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Telescope". The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Telescope.
  8. ↑ "The Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS)". The Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS).
  9. ↑ "LOFAR Telescope". LOFAR Telescope.
  10. ↑ Farnes, Jamie (5 December 2018). "Bizarre 'Dark Fluid' with Negative Mass Could Dominate the Universe".
  11. ↑ "Chat with Jamie Farnes about his research on cosmic magnetism at #skascicon16".
  12. ↑ "CAASTRO in the classroom".
  13. ↑ "CAASTRO Newsletter" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "How to understand a cosmic elephant". CAASTRO Australia. 29 August 2014.
  15. ↑ "Cosmic magnetic fields in ancient galaxies surprisingly strong". CAASTRO Australia. 31 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "Probing Magnetic Fields of Early Galaxies". American Astronomical Society. 2 June 2017.
  17. ↑ "El extraño "fluido oscuro": la nueva teoría que explica de qué está hecho el 95% del universo". BBC. 12 December 2018.
  18. ↑ "Kan negatieve massa donkere materie en donkere energie verklaren?". New Scientist. 13 December 2018.
  19. ↑ "Mystery of dark matter may have been solved by Oxford scientists". Sky News. 5 December 2018.
  20. ↑ "95 per cent of universe may be strange 'dark fluid' which moves towards you as you push it away, says Oxford University". The Telegraph. 5 December 2018.
  21. ↑ "Was Einstein WRONG? Scientist proposes NEW theory of relativity". Express. 4 January 2019.
  22. ↑ Gallardo, Cristina (11 December 2018). "Un controvertido modelo promete solucionar el misterio de la materia oscura". El Pais.
  23. ↑ "Bizarre 'Dark Fluid' with Negative Mass Could Dominate the Universe". Space.com. 17 December 2018.
  24. ↑ "Could 'negative mass' unify dark matter, dark energy?". Cosmos Magazine. 13 December 2018.
  25. ↑ "宇宙の95％は負の質量をもつ「暗黒流体」だった？". NewsWeek Japan. 20 December 2018.
  26. ↑ "El fluido oscuro del universo". Huffington Post. 17 December 2018.
  27. ↑ "宇宙缺失質量在哪裡？牛津物理學家新理論可破解暗物質之謎". TechNews. 6 December 2018.
  28. ↑ Farnes, J. S. (2018). "A Unifying Theory of Dark Energy and Dark Matter: Negative Masses and Matter Creation within a Modified ΛCDM Framework". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 620: A92. arXiv: 1712.07962 . doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201832898. S2CID   53600834.
  29. ↑ Albert Einstein, "Comment on Schrodingers Note 'On a System of Solutions for the Generally Covariant Gravitational Field Equations'" https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol7-trans/47
  30. ↑ O’Raifeartaigh C., O’Keeffe M., Nahm W. and S. Mitton. (2017). 'Einstein’s 1917 Static Model of the Universe: A Centennial Review'. Eur. Phys. J. (H) 42: 431–474.
  31. ↑ "Could 'negative mass' unify dark matter, dark energy?". Cosmos Magazine. 13 December 2018.
  32. ↑ "Most of the Universe is Missing—A 'Dark Fluid' With Negative Mass Could Explain Why". Newsweek. 5 December 2018.
  33. ↑ "Scientists may have solved the great mystery of dark matter". cnet. 5 December 2018.
  34. ↑ "No, negative masses have not revolutionized cosmology". BackReaction Blog. 7 December 2018.
  35. ↑ "No, scientists did not just solve the massive dark matter mystery". Wired. 7 December 2018.
  36. ↑ "Dark Matter Hunters Pivot After Years of Failed Searches". Wired. 19 December 2018.
  37. ↑ "Dark liquid: Radical new model of the universe revealed". The Age. 30 December 2018.
  38. ↑ "Bizarre 'Dark Fluid' with Negative Mass Could Dominate the Universe". The Conversation. 5 December 2018.
  39. ↑ "New Theory Suggests "Dark Fluid", Not Dark Matter, May Explain The Universe". IFLScience. 5 December 2018.
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