1 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, I've got a really hard physics question for you. 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, bring it on. All right, it's gonna sound simple, 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: but I think it's a tricky question. All right, now 4 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: you're scaring me. Here's a question. How do you define 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: a star? I guess i'd say a fusion burning ball 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: of plasma in outer space. But what about a neutron 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: star that's not burning? Um? Well, then I guess i'd 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: say a star is a glowing ball of stuff in space. See, 9 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: totally different. What about a cold white dwarf that's not 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: technically glowing? Right? You? And there is no good definition 11 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: for a star? All right? Do I get a star? 12 00:00:45,240 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: Then a gold star? Hi am poor handmake cartoonists and 13 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: the creator of PhD comics. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, 14 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: and I never give out gold stars in my class. 15 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: What you're one of those tough professors that are always 16 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: marking things up with red ink. No. The reward for 17 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: doing well in my classes you get to come do 18 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: research with me more. I see, Oh, I see. It 19 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: sounds like a great class. But you know that reminds 20 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:27,559 Speaker 1: me of what happened to me. This is a real 21 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: story in undergrad I turned into physics assignment, and then 22 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: the day they were to be returned, the professor gives 23 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: a lengthy apology. He says, to the person whose assignment 24 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: this was, I apologize, I misunderstood your answer and that's 25 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,559 Speaker 1: why I corrected it this way. And then he hands 26 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: it to me and the page is covering in red 27 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: ink all these insulting comments. What are you doing? This 28 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense. And then at the very end 29 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: of my solution, he says, oh, now I see where 30 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: you were going. Good work, full credit. That sounds really familiar. 31 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: That's how I feel every time we were recorded podcast Dane, 32 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: I'm like, where are you going with this? What's oh? Now? 33 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: I get it? Yeah, And that's why you don't use 34 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: red inc the first time you read someone's designment. But 35 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: we are the stars of the podcast. Daniel and Jorge 36 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: explain the universe production of I Heart Radio, in which 37 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: we mark up the whole universe and say, this doesn't 38 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: make sense, how does that work? Where are you going 39 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: with this anyway? Why do you have black holes? What's 40 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: the plan? We try to unpack the entire universe, from 41 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: the tiniest little particles to the spinning hurricanes on Earth, 42 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: to the craziness inside neutron stars, to everything in between, 43 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: and explain all of it to you. Yeah, the universe 44 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: definitely gets stars for being awesome and mysterious and big 45 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: and full of interesting ideas and things to discover. It 46 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: gets a lot of stars, right, Daniel. I mean there 47 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: are a lot of stars in the universe. There are 48 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: a lot of stars in the universe, and there are 49 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: a lot of different kinds of stars, and this is 50 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: one of those really cool fields because the naming conventions 51 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: for stars, what we call them pre dates, are like 52 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: actual understand ending of stars. We started to call them this, 53 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: We started to call them that, and then later we realized, oh, 54 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: that's not actually a star, or this is really two 55 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: stars or something. So it's fun when like the naming 56 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: conventions pre date your actual understanding. Oh I see, is 57 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: it like being a Twitter star or a YouTube star? 58 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: Like that's not quite the same as being a movie star. 59 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: You know, it turns out that's not exactly as bankable. Yeah. Yeah, 60 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: but stars are something we've been studying for, you know, 61 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: literally forever since we looked up at the sky and wondered, like, 62 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: what are those things out there in the sky, and 63 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: then later realizing they were like our sun, and then 64 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: realizing there are lots of different kinds of stars, very 65 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: very different from our son. Yeah, I guess you know, 66 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: the definition probably started when we looked up at the 67 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: night sky and saw you know, bright shiny things, and 68 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: you know, that's what we thought were stars, like you know, 69 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: the pinpoints in the night sky. Yeah, and it takes 70 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: a real leap to understand that those are like actually 71 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: super duper massive and far away, right, that they appear 72 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: to be so tiny only because they are so distant, 73 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: and the fact that they're so distant, yeah, we can 74 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: still see them means they must be almost impossibly bright, right, 75 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: And then we figured out that some of them are 76 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: glowing in the nice guy are actually planet So those 77 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: are definitely not stars. But there is sort of a 78 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: wide variety of types of stars out there in the universe, right. 79 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: There is a kind that are burning, and there's the 80 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 1: kind that's just simmering there, and then there are the 81 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: kinds that they're just sitting there right and glowing out 82 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: of their own kind of restlessness. Right. Yeah, Well, we 83 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: had a whole fun podcast episode about the weirdest kinds 84 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: of stars, And in that episode, I define stars to 85 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: be things that have fusion inside them that prevent them 86 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: from collapsing. And you pointed out, well, a lot of 87 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: the things we were calling stars, like neutron stars and 88 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: white doors, don't have fusion going on inside. They're still 89 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: just really hot because they are leftovers from something that 90 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:44,839 Speaker 1: used to be burning. But they're not actually burning anymore, 91 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: even if they're still glowing right right, So then would 92 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: you say maybe a better definition is just you know, 93 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: things that glow out there in space above a certain 94 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: you know, glowiness. I don't know, wouldn't you need a 95 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: minimum size? Also, like would a rocket ship be a 96 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: star because it's glowing out the back? Yeah? Why not? 97 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: I mean to an alien seeing you, you know, burning 98 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: in the sky, you'd be like, oh look there's another 99 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: star and it's coming towards us. Yeah, I suppose. I 100 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: mean you might wonder like, why do we even have 101 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: this concept of a star. It's because we see this pattern. 102 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: We see this thing out there in the universe. There's 103 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: a lot of this sort of similar type of thing, 104 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: and we do this categorization where we try to say, well, 105 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: this and that are kind of related can we fit 106 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: them into a larger scheme only because we're trying to simplify, 107 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: because we're trying to get down to the root cause 108 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: and understand why do we have stars at all? You know, 109 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: why is this a thing that seemed to happen in 110 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: the universe more than other shapes of matter. But there 111 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: is sort of one thing that all of those stars 112 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: have in common, you know, like nutron stars, regular star, 113 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: fusion stars, white dwarves, brown dwarfs, they all have one 114 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: thing in common, and that is that they're all made 115 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: out of regular matter. They are, right, They're made out 116 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 1: of quirks and leptons, just like you and I are, 117 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: And just like all the ice cream in the world is, 118 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: and just like all the planets out there and all 119 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: the kind of normal stuff that we're familiar with are 120 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: made out of the same fundamentutil building blocks, mostly up 121 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: corks and down corks and electrons, sometimes a few strange 122 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: quirks or whatever else thrown in. But yeah, it's the 123 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: same basic building blocks that make all of those different 124 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: kinds of stars. Yeah, they're all made out of the 125 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: same kind of matter. But then it turns out that 126 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: that kind of matter is not the only type of 127 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: matter in the universe. In fact, there's a lot more 128 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: of another kind of matter that makes up all the 129 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: stuff in the universe. Yeah, the kind of matter we're 130 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: made out of is actually unusual. We call it normal matter, 131 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: but it's really kind of abnormal. It's only fifteen percent 132 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: or so of all the matter in the universe is 133 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: our kind of matter. Yet you always struck me as 134 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: a little abnormal for a physicist. That's dark, Ben, No, 135 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: that's a compliment, trying to compliment you're an abnormal physicist, Adnuel. Well, 136 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 1: then your whole joke is kind of dark. Yeah, there 137 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: is a whole slice of the pie of the universe's 138 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: stuff that is not regular matter, and in fact it's 139 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: there's still a big mystery. It is still a big mystery, 140 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: and one mystery is what is it made out of 141 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: and what is it doing? In fact, I was having 142 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: dinner with my family the other day and my son 143 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: was asking me about dark matter, and then he says 144 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: to me, does dark matter form things the way normal 145 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: matter does? Like? Can it make planets and stars and 146 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: all sorts of crazy stuff? M interesting? So light dinner 147 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: conversation in the whites and household is either sewage, which 148 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: my wife studies, or dark matter, which I study. But 149 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: they're both kind of dark. I wonder what you were 150 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: eating to inspire these conversations. But yeah, there's a whole 151 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: bunch of other matter in the universe that is not 152 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: regular matter. It's dark matter. And so a pretty interesting 153 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 1: and big question is what can you make with this 154 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: dark matter? So to the on the program, we'll be 155 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: asking the question, are there stars made out of dark matter? Now, Daniel, 156 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: would those be called dark stars? Because that sounds like 157 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: a pretty cool, like fantasy sci fi name. It does. Yeah, 158 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: it sounds like a wizard with some special skills. Dark star. 159 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: What's the matter with dark star? Yeah? Well, if we 160 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: ever do discover one, I will definitely call you up 161 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: and ask you to name it. I want bet on it. 162 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: Neither the part where you discover something or the part 163 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: where you can actually call me if you do discover something. Yeah, 164 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: that's unlikely above them. Yeah, so this is a pretty 165 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: interesting question. Can you make a star out of dark matter? 166 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: I mean, you can make a star in many different 167 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: ways at a regular batter, quirks and electrons and other 168 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: kinds of particles, like that, but can you make it 169 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: out of dark matter? And I guess the big question 170 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: is would it glow like would a dark matter star 171 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 1: glow or would it anti glow. Yeah, it's a super 172 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: fun question because we see all these weird things that 173 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: normal matter can do. Right, if you just were given 174 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,960 Speaker 1: like quarks and electrons, it would be really hard to predict, 175 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: like all the kinds of things that those particles can do. 176 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: They can make protons and neutrons, and those protons and 177 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: neutrons can make all sorts of crazy stuff like hurricanes 178 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: and water droplets and hamsters and bananas and ice cream 179 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: and stars, and that's really complicated. We don't even know 180 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,200 Speaker 1: what dark matter is made out of, so it's hard 181 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: to get your mind around, like what can those bits 182 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: of dark matter do when they get together and dance? 183 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: Can they make really complex emergent phenomena like our matter 184 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: can or not? And so, as usually, we were wondering 185 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: how many people out there had thought about this question, 186 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: whether you can make a start out of dark matter. 187 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: So Daniel went out there into the wilds of the 188 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: Internet and asked a couple of people, well, Daniel, did 189 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: you go into the internet for this one, or did 190 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: you just walk down the hall? This is on the internet. 191 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: Thanks for the volunteers. I have not recently asked my 192 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: children these questions. They tend to run away when I 193 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: show up with my phone on record. I guess the 194 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: internet has halls sort of. And so you ask people 195 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: if they thought that dark matter could make a start, 196 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: and so think about it for a second. What would 197 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: you answer. Here's what people had to say. Well, dark 198 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: matter feels the force of gravity, so it definitely can 199 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: clump together. I don't know if it can get dance enough, 200 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: but even if it did, it doesn't feel the strong 201 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: nuclear force. And in order to have a start you 202 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: need to have a nuclear fusion reaction inside of it. 203 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: So if it can't feel the strong nuclear force, I 204 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: don't think it can make stars. About the definition between 205 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: no stars today, As far as I understand its stores 206 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: are bodies of burning gas um involving nuclear reactions. Since 207 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: they are made of elements, and through nuclear actions they 208 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,839 Speaker 1: produce new elements, I don't see how that could happen 209 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: through doc matters. So no, I don't think so all right. 210 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: I like how they avoided the answer, like they said 211 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: a lot of words, but not yes or no. It's complicated. 212 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: You can hear that they were sort of thinking about 213 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: it for the first time as they answer the question. 214 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: They were like doing physics on the fly. I love 215 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: hearing that. Hearing people like use the models they have 216 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: in their minds to try to fit them together and 217 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: think about how they can come up with an answer. 218 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: That's the process they're doing physics. It's wonderful to hearing 219 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: you don't always get to the answer right away. I see, 220 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: but these are pretty cool answer. I mean, some people 221 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: allude to the idea that maybe dark men it doesn't 222 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: feel the strong force or therefore there's no fusion in 223 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: a dark matter star, and also talking about what kind 224 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:09,200 Speaker 1: of reactions you would need to make a star. Yeah, 225 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: it's super fascinating to think about, Like could there be 226 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:15,199 Speaker 1: dark strong force, like a different kind of strong force 227 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,079 Speaker 1: just for dark matter. That would be super cool. What 228 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: a dark strong force? It sounds like another superhero villain name. 229 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: It's the power that the dark Star is going to 230 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: use to battle our star when it comes into our 231 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: solicits to destroy us, right right right. It sounds like 232 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: some muce. You make a movie about the dark side 233 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: of the force. Or something, and how it has two 234 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: sides and how there should be balanced. That sounds like 235 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: a billion dollar idea, maybe a fifty billion dollar idea. 236 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: He had three ego dark star Wars. We'll call it 237 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: all right, Well, let's recap for maybe those listeners that 238 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: don't know Daniel, what can we say about dark matter? 239 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: Like how do you define it? And what do we 240 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 1: know about what it could be made out of? So 241 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: there's a lot we don't know about dark matter, but 242 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: there is also a lot that we do know. Dark 243 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: matter is just our word for this invisible source of 244 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: gravity that we haven't been able to explain. Like when 245 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: we look out at the night sky and we see 246 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,119 Speaker 1: things tugging on stars, we know that there's something they're 247 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: providing gravity to tug on those stars. And so, for example, 248 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: when we look at galaxies and how they spin, we 249 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: see that galaxies are spinning really really fast and something 250 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 1: is holding them together. But if you add up the 251 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,080 Speaker 1: mass of all the stars in the galaxy, there's not 252 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: enough gravity to hold them together. And so we say 253 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,079 Speaker 1: there must be something else there, something weird and new, 254 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: something invisible that's providing the gravity to hold the galaxy together. 255 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: So that's the basic hypothesis that there must be something 256 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: else out there providing gravity but being invisible. And we 257 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: have more evidence than just the rotation of galaxies. We 258 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: can see the effect of dark matter all over the place, 259 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: from the very early universe, how it affected the ripples 260 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,920 Speaker 1: in the plasma that gave us the cosmic microwave background, 261 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: to then the evolution of the universe. The whole structure 262 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: of the universe, from galaxies to clusters to superclusters, would 263 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: look totally different if there wasn't dark matter. And we 264 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,199 Speaker 1: can also see blobs of dark matter in the sky 265 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,679 Speaker 1: bending the light from background galaxies. So we know that 266 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: it's a thing. It's matter. It's out there, but it's 267 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: invisible and we don't know what it's made out of. Right, 268 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: it's the name we give something that we know it's there. 269 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: You can see it in many different ways, or you 270 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: can know that it's there in many different ways. You 271 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: just can't like see it or touch it or somehow 272 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 1: like shine a light on it. Right, because it's dark, 273 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't feel or interact with the magnetic force, that's right. 274 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: That's the key thing is that it doesn't seem to 275 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,839 Speaker 1: have any interactions other than gravity, Like if you shoot 276 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: photons at it, they passed right through. It doesn't feel 277 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: photons because it has no electric charge, and only things 278 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: with electric charge feel photons. We know that it doesn't 279 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: feel the weak force, and it doesn't feel the strong 280 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: nuclear force. None of the forces that we are familiar 281 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,079 Speaker 1: with affect these particles except for gravity, and that's the 282 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,560 Speaker 1: only way we know about its existence and the only 283 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: way we have so far to interact with it. And 284 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 1: that makes it really challenging because gravity is so weak. 285 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 1: So it's really hard to use gravity to study, for example, 286 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: a particle, because the particle has almost no gravity it's 287 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: so tiny. Instead, we have to use it to study 288 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: like enormous blobs of dark matter like at the center 289 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: of the galaxy or huge halos that's surround the galaxy. 290 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: Makes it hard to figure out exactly where the dark 291 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: matter is and what it's doing because we have such 292 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: a weak way to probe it, just gravity. Right, It's 293 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: like the only way you can know it's there is 294 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 1: if you have a lot of it, like you can 295 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: like grab a little bit of it and look at 296 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: it closely, because it's invisible. Because it's invisible and you 297 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: can't grab it, you know, it's like grabbing something that 298 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: your hand passes right through. And in fact, dark matter 299 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: is here. It's all around us. It's everywhere. It's not 300 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: just like out there in space. It's here on Earth. 301 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: We think we don't know what it's made out of. 302 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: It if it's made out of a particle or something else, 303 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: or many particles, but it is all around us. We 304 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: just have to figure out a way to interact with 305 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: it other than gravity. If we're going to figure out 306 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: what it's made out of. Right, that's a huge question. 307 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: And it's not just like a little bit of stuff 308 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: out there in space. It's a huge percentage of the 309 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: mass and energy of the universe. Right, It's not like 310 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: a rare thing out there. It's like most a thing. Yeah, 311 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: if you just look at like the fraction of the 312 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 1: mass in the universe, it's like eight percent. So the universe, 313 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: the stuff in the universe, is mostly dark matter. So 314 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: you can't pretend to like understand the universe at all 315 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: if you don't understand anything about eighty percent of it 316 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: for sure. And then if you look at the whole 317 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: energy budget, mass and energy of the universe, dark matter 318 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: makes up about twenty of all the energy in the universe, 319 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: whereas our kind of matter is only like five percent. 320 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:31,800 Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that we know like nothing about 321 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: dark matter, because, as you say, we can study really 322 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: big blobs of it. We actually do have some clues 323 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,800 Speaker 1: about dark matter. Like we can tell how quickly dark 324 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: matter is moving around, because if it moves around really 325 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: really quickly, if it's hot, then it changes how it's distributed. 326 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: And if it's not moving around really really quickly, if 327 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: it's cold, then it tends to like move more slowly 328 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: and clump a little bit more. That changes how it's distributed, 329 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: and that changes how it tugs on other matter. So 330 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: we've been able to figure out, for example, that dark 331 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: matter is around. It hangs out and need really big 332 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: fluffy diffuse clouds that surround the whole galaxy. Yeah, I 333 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: guess you could say it's pretty cool, totally chill, it's 334 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: cool and dark exactly just likes to hang around. Yeah, 335 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: we know it's all around this. It basically forms like 336 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: a big blob in our galaxy, right, Yeah, and most 337 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: of it is concentrated at the center of the galaxy. 338 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: That's where the strongest gravitational pull is that it gets 339 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: sucked in like other things. But because it's cold and 340 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: slow moving and it doesn't feel a lot of other forces, 341 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: it tends to mostly stay in a big fluffy cloud 342 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: and swirl around the galaxy. So the galaxy is actually 343 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: much bigger than you can see. The dark matter halo 344 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: extends out like twice as far as the visible stars, 345 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: So we're hanging out in a huge cloud of dark matter, right, 346 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:43,960 Speaker 1: and it it sort of makes up most of the 347 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: galaxy in a way. Right, Like the stars are just 348 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: like the sprinkles on the ice cream exactly. If you 349 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: want to visualize the whole universe as a cupcake, then 350 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: like the cake part is dark energy, the frosting is 351 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: dark matter, and then the stars are the little sprinkles 352 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: on top, right, and then we are the cherry on top. 353 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: Obviously we are a piece of dust on one of 354 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:07,439 Speaker 1: those sprinkles. So that's dark matter. And so let's get 355 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: into the big unknown question, which is can you make 356 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:12,880 Speaker 1: a star out of dark matter? So we'll get into that, 357 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: and also you would go around doing that. But first 358 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. All right, we're talking about 359 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: dark matter and whether or not you can make a 360 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: star out of it, or as I might call it, 361 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: a dark star, which, Daniel, I just looked it up 362 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: on the internet. It is a Marvel superhero or villain. 363 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: It's a Marvel character for sure, called dark Star. You know, 364 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: I really appreciate the deep research you do for this podcast. 365 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 1: Thank you. You're right, I should have looked it up 366 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,159 Speaker 1: on Wikipedia, like like you do for physics. Oh, so 367 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:55,000 Speaker 1: what are the powers that dark Star and the superhero has. 368 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: I don't know. You know, if it was scientifically accurate, 369 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: I guess she would be invisible, but still the way 370 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: something right, Yes, she could gradually influence motion of stars 371 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: in the universe. Like well, I guess we all do that. 372 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: That's not that special. But she is a superhero, and 373 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: I guess. But that's what we're talking about today, is 374 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: that if you made a star out of dark matter, 375 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: if you could, we don't know that. What kind of 376 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: powers would it have, what would it be like? And 377 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: is it even possible? So I guess let's talk first 378 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: about how to make a regular star and then we'll 379 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: see if that applies to dark matter or if it 380 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 1: can apply to dark matter. So, Daniel, how do you 381 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,160 Speaker 1: make a star besides putting it up on the Internet 382 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: and hoping it goes viral. A star has a few ingredients. 383 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: One is the raw materials, right. You start with like 384 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,280 Speaker 1: a big cloud of gas or dust left over from 385 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: the explosion of a previous generation, or left over from 386 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: the Big Bang, and you have it hanging out there 387 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: in space, So that's ingredient Number one is the stuff 388 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: you need to make the star. But of course a 389 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: star is much more compact than a big cloud of 390 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,719 Speaker 1: gas and dust, so you need something to pull it together, 391 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: and that, of course is gravity. So eventually, if you 392 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,120 Speaker 1: have a big cloud of of out there, gravity will 393 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: tug on all the little particles, the little atoms hanging 394 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: out there in space and pull them together. And as 395 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: that happens, it'll get faster and faster, because you'll get 396 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: a clump of stuff near the middle that has stronger gravity, 397 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: and it'll pull on stuff more and more, and it's 398 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 1: gravity will get stronger as it gets more massive, and 399 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: then it'll get more massive as it gets dur under gravity, etcetera, etcetera. 400 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:21,640 Speaker 1: But there's one more critical thing you have to do 401 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: to make that gas actually collapse into something that's really 402 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: dense that can actually start to burn. What do you mean, Well, 403 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: not everything that feels gravity's tug eventually falls into the center. 404 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: For example, the Earth is feeling the tug of our star, 405 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,120 Speaker 1: but we're not plummeting into the Sun helping to contribute 406 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: to its mass, right, and the same with Jupiter. For example, 407 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: Jupiter is being tugged by the Sun, but it doesn't 408 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,200 Speaker 1: fall into the Sun. And the same is true of everything. 409 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: If you have a big swiling cloud of gas and dust, 410 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,360 Speaker 1: stuff can start to fall in, but it'll just move 411 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: faster and faster and end up in an orbit. It 412 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: won't necessarily fall into the center. And that's because of 413 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: angular momentum. If it's spinning at all around that point, 414 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: it's going to keep spinning, and it's got to keep spinning. 415 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: And that angular momentum is what, for example, keeps the 416 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,160 Speaker 1: Earth from falling into the Sun or Jupiter from falling 417 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 1: into the Sun. So in order to form a really 418 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: dense object, you have to find a way to get 419 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: rid of that angular momentum, right. You needed to compress, 420 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: otherwise it'll just be like a swirling cloud forever. It'll 421 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,159 Speaker 1: just be a swirling cloud exactly. The way. For example, 422 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: stuff around a black hole doesn't instantaneously and automatically fall 423 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: into the black hole. Right. The reason a black hole 424 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: has an accretion disk around it is that that stuff 425 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,920 Speaker 1: is swirling around really fast, too fast to fall into 426 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: the black hole. What makes it fall into the black hole, 427 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: It's got to lose some of its angular momentum. The 428 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,679 Speaker 1: way it does that is by bumping into other stuff 429 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: in the disc. Right, it's a big, jostling, hot mess. 430 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: That's why these things are glowing, and they bump into 431 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: each other and then one of them falls towards the center. 432 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: Another way you can do it is you can radiate 433 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,320 Speaker 1: off some energy, like shoot off a photon, and then 434 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 1: lose some energy and fall towards the center. The same 435 00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: thing is true if you're trying to make a star. 436 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: You know, this big swart in the cloud of gas 437 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,359 Speaker 1: and dust. It's got to somehow lose some of that 438 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: energy so it falls together. But that only works if 439 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,120 Speaker 1: you can bump into stuff, or if you can radiate 440 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: away energy, and that requires using electromagnetic forces. Right, it 441 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:15,479 Speaker 1: needs some kind of like I guess, stickiness. It's kind 442 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:17,160 Speaker 1: of what I think what you're saying, like It can't 443 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,600 Speaker 1: just be like out there swirling around. It has to 444 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: somehow have a little bit of like a molasses to 445 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: it so that it groups together in the middle. Yeah, 446 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: you need more than just gravity. You need another force 447 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: to make really compact stuff. You know. Another way you 448 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,880 Speaker 1: can think about it is as you just describe goopiness, 449 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 1: Like imagine stuff out there in the cloud banging together 450 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: and sticking together, right, holding themselves together with electromagnetic forces, 451 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: chemical bonds, so that when they touch, they like hang 452 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: out together, and then they touch another one and another one, 453 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: and it gradually accumulates into something that likes to hang 454 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: out together. You know. The thing that's holding the Earth together, 455 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: for example, is not gravity, right, it's the bonds of 456 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: in the rocks for example, that are holding those pieces together. 457 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: The Earth wouldn't have come to other if the bits 458 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 1: of the Earth didn't have those forces, those ways to 459 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: hang onto each other. Yeah. I guess that's one sort 460 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: of like definition maybe or requirement of a star is 461 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: that things have to be really compact, right, Like do 462 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: you have to like they have to be squeezed in 463 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: together a lot and not just like flying around like 464 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: a cloud of dust. Yeah, a huge cloud of gas 465 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,400 Speaker 1: is not a star, right. We don't have a great 466 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: definition of the star, as we talked about earlier, but 467 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 1: we know that it has to be something which collapses 468 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,120 Speaker 1: so that you can start fusion, so you can get 469 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: it to somehow glow, because a big cloud of gas 470 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,360 Speaker 1: and dust and space doesn't glow, doesn't give off any light. 471 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,479 Speaker 1: It just sits there. It can reflect light, it can 472 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,199 Speaker 1: hang out, but it doesn't glow. So in order to 473 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: have glowing happening, you have to have some sort of 474 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: release of energy from fusion at the heart of it. 475 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: And fusion doesn't start unless you make that star compact enough. 476 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: You need to squeeze the stuff down, and that's what 477 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:52,360 Speaker 1: gravity and then some sort of inelastic force that can 478 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: clump the stuff together can do together. Right, And so 479 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: then that's the problem, kind of like trying to make 480 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,399 Speaker 1: a dark matter star. Is a dark matter doesn't feel 481 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 1: the electromagnetic forces and so it can bump into it 482 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:08,640 Speaker 1: itself and so therefore it can't really you know, stick together. Yeah, exactly. 483 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: That's why we think that dark matter stays in these 484 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: really big fluffy clouds. We don't know what dark matter 485 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: is made out of, but we've never seen it have 486 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,919 Speaker 1: any kind of interaction other than gravity. So if it 487 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,440 Speaker 1: doesn't feel anything else, it's really hard for it to 488 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: slow down. Like it just passes through normal matter without clumping. 489 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: It passes through itself, right dark matter bouncing into dark matter, 490 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,879 Speaker 1: it just passes right through. It's like invisible even to itself, 491 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: and so that makes it really hard to slow down. 492 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: So it's just gonna like swirl around the galaxy forever. 493 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 1: It's not sticky, I guess, right, because it's transparent to itself. 494 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:41,640 Speaker 1: To like, if we have a particle of dark matter 495 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 1: and another particle of dark matter flying towards each other, 496 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 1: they'll just pass right through each other and keep going. Yeah, 497 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: it's transparent and also intangible. Right, if you're talking about superheroes, 498 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,919 Speaker 1: like somebody who's invisible, you can still push against them 499 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: and feel them there. But dark matter is not just invisible. 500 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: It's also intangible. If you have like an enormous lab 501 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,640 Speaker 1: of dark matter, somebody had like a cube of dark 502 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: matter they put right in front of you, you could 503 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: push your hand right through it and not even feel it, 504 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,159 Speaker 1: just the same way. New trinos are almost intangible. They 505 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: can pass right through you. Without noticing you, because they 506 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 1: don't have an interaction that's strong enough for them to 507 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: feel you. That's why newtrinos can pass through the entire 508 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: Earth without even noticing. And so dark matter can do 509 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:23,399 Speaker 1: that to itself, right, it just passes right through itself. 510 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: It's a dark matter that's swirling around has a hard 511 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: time collapsing into any kind of compact object a star, 512 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: a planet, even a dark rock or anything like that. 513 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: So that's one big problem with trying to make a 514 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: dark matter star. There's also the other problem, which is 515 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: that stars also have another ingredient that's important, which is 516 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: some sort of something that has to make it glow 517 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: as well. Yes, stars are an amazing balance actually between 518 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: gravity and something fighting back. Right, if we just had 519 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,439 Speaker 1: gravity and then these other forces to get things to clump, 520 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:54,959 Speaker 1: then everything would go straight to a black hole. Right. 521 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: You have a huge cloud of gas and dust and 522 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:58,960 Speaker 1: it would start to collapse and it would get stickier 523 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: and stickier and eventually boom, black hole. You wouldn't have 524 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,359 Speaker 1: a star at all. A star only exists and burns 525 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,040 Speaker 1: for so many billions of years because it overcomes gravity. 526 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: The fusion at the core that gives us the light 527 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: that makes the stars twinkle also pushes back against the 528 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: stuff inside the star so that it doesn't collapse. So 529 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,199 Speaker 1: the star is this incredible balance of gravity squeezing in 530 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,560 Speaker 1: and then fusion pushing out, right, Because without the fusion, 531 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: like you said, it would just turn into a black hole. 532 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: And so even if dark matter was sticky and could 533 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,879 Speaker 1: collapse and what could compress if it did that, it 534 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: would just become a dark matter black hole, right, yeah, 535 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,479 Speaker 1: exactly the darkest of black holes right now. Dark black 536 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: That sounds like an oxymron definition. And there are some 537 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,400 Speaker 1: other ways to avoid collapsing to do a black hole, 538 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 1: Like many stars use fusion to avoid gravity. But some 539 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: of the things we talked about earlier, which people argue 540 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: about whether or not they're a star, like a neutron 541 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: star or a white dwarf, those don't have fusion inside 542 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: of them, but they're also not collapsing into a black hole. 543 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,360 Speaker 1: That's because there are other ways to prevent a collapse 544 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 1: into a black hole, like a white dwarf does it 545 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: by electrons and not wanting to overlap with each other. 546 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:07,919 Speaker 1: You know, Electrons are these weird particles that don't like 547 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: to be in the same state as any other electron, 548 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: so they resist being in the same place, and that's 549 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: enough to prevent a white dwarf from collapsing into a 550 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: black hole. And similar things are going on inside neutron stars. 551 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: They don't have enough mass to overcome those barriers, so 552 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: they don't turn into a black hole. Mostly it's fusion 553 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: for stars, but for some of these other objects, there 554 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: are other ways to overcome gravity and prevent collapsing into 555 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,479 Speaker 1: a black hole. And some people would say a neutron 556 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: star is a star, and some people would say it's 557 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,159 Speaker 1: just a bunch of neutrons in space. It's just a 558 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: neutron ball, all right. Well, it's just sort of sounds 559 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: like maybe you define star as something that would go 560 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 1: into a black hole, or like something on the edge 561 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,119 Speaker 1: of being a black hole. But something's keeping it alive, 562 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 1: something's keeping it from collapsing, and somehow in that sort 563 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,640 Speaker 1: of tugger war, it generates a lot of light. Yes, 564 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,959 Speaker 1: like balance there on a nice edge, two totally different 565 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: forces tugging in each other. And it's always been incredible 566 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: to me that it's so stable. You know that this 567 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,399 Speaker 1: thing can last for millions or billions of years. In 568 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: this incredible tug of war between these powerful forces. Whenever 569 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: you have these two things battling against each other, I 570 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,160 Speaker 1: feel like any instability is going to slide off one 571 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: way or the other. So I'm amazed that stars last 572 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: for longer than, like, you know, a minute. That would 573 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: be a pretty quick lifespander for the star. All right, 574 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,679 Speaker 1: So then dark matter would need to have something sticky 575 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,919 Speaker 1: about It's something that makes it collapse and not just 576 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: fly or swirl around. And it also would need something 577 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: to prevent it from becoming a black hole, because I 578 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 1: guess you could make a black hole out of dark matter, 579 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:36,680 Speaker 1: Like if you put enough dark matter in one place, 580 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 1: you would get a black hole. Right in theory, you 581 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,439 Speaker 1: could make a black hole out of dark matter. But 582 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: for the same reason, it's hard to imagine that any 583 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,680 Speaker 1: of those exist because dark matter doesn't have a way 584 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: to slow down. Like we have a huge amount of 585 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,120 Speaker 1: dark matter in our galaxy and we have a huge 586 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,199 Speaker 1: black hole at the center of it. How much of 587 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: the stuff in that supermassive black hole came from dark matter, 588 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: Probably not very much. It's probably mostly normal matter because 589 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: normal matter is better at falling into black holes and 590 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,680 Speaker 1: losing its angular momentum. So probably there's very little dark 591 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: matter in those black holes. But in theory, if you 592 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: had some way to get dark matter to lose its 593 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 1: angular momentum, where some other way to manipulate it, in theory, 594 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: it could form black holes. It's just gravity, and dark 595 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: matter definitely feels gravity. And then by the same talking, 596 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: it could have something that prevents it from collapsing to right, Like, 597 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: we just don't know because dark matter doesn't is not 598 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,239 Speaker 1: to thinky, so it never collapses that much, and so 599 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 1: we don't know if it would become a black hole 600 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: or if it would become some sort of stark. Yeah, 601 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 1: let's be clear about what we don't know about dark matter. 602 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: Like we know it feels gravity. We know it doesn't 603 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,400 Speaker 1: feel electromagnetism or the weak force or the strong force, 604 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 1: and we've never seen it have another kind of interaction. 605 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: That doesn't mean it doesn't, Right, It's very hard to 606 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: study dark matter because you can't like take one particle 607 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: in the other particle. We've never even seen a particle 608 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,959 Speaker 1: of dark matter, and so we don't know if there 609 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,080 Speaker 1: aren't other weird forces that dark matter does feel with itself. 610 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: We just have a note. It's totally possible. Yeah, it 611 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: needs a better publicist maybe. All right, let's get into 612 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:06,760 Speaker 1: the question of can you make a star at a 613 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: dark matter and what would that take and would we 614 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,880 Speaker 1: ever find them? But first let's take another quick break. 615 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: All right, Daniel, we're talking about dark matter stars dark stars, 616 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: and we talked about all the things dark matter would 617 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: need to have in order for them to become stars. 618 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: But we know that dark matter at least doesn't have 619 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: one of those things. It's not sticky. We don't know 620 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: that it has any way to be sticky. But we 621 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: have some guesses, and you know, the best theory of 622 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 1: dark matter we have right now the sort of leading 623 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: candidate something called the WHIMP, the Weekly Interacting Massive Particle, 624 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:52,959 Speaker 1: And this says, well, maybe dark matter is made out 625 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,479 Speaker 1: of one kind of particle, and maybe it does have 626 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: another interaction. It's just really really weak. And when they 627 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: say weakly interacting, they don't mean the weak force with 628 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: a capital W, the one we know and love the 629 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 1: neutrinos interact with. They mean a not very powerful force, 630 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: like a feeble force. So maybe there is some other 631 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,959 Speaker 1: kind of force out there we've never discovered before. That 632 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: lets dark matter interact with normal matter in some very 633 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: very gentle way we just haven't seen yet, all right, 634 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: So then the question I guess is could you make 635 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: a star out of dark matter? Or what kinds of 636 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: stars would you be able to make? Well, there's sort 637 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: of a variety of answers, you know, there's like maybe 638 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: plausible stuff to less plausible to totally bonkers and crazy 639 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: my favorite kind go on. So the most plausible, like 640 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: best worked out scenario for dark stars is something which 641 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: is a bit or a cop out because it's not 642 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,040 Speaker 1: just dark matter stars. It's like a combination. It's an 643 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: object that's made of both normal matter and dark matter 644 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: together acting in a weird way that you might call 645 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,719 Speaker 1: a star. But it's an interesting idea, like interacting with 646 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: each other or just hanging out in the same place. 647 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: Because I met like even our sun probably has dark 648 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: matter in it, or it has dark matter floating around 649 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:07,320 Speaker 1: inside of it. It definitely has dark matter floating around 650 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: inside of it, but that dark matter isn't very dense, 651 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,200 Speaker 1: like dark matter is everywhere and there's a lot of it, 652 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: but it's sort of spread out evenly through the universe 653 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: we think, And so in any particular volume, there's not 654 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: that much dark matter, so the dark matter in the 655 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:22,720 Speaker 1: Sun doesn't really affect it. Like inside the volume of 656 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: the Earth, there's about one squirrel's worth of dark matter, 657 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: so it doesn't really have much gravitational effect on anything 658 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: on Earth. Right, But it's a really big squirrel the 659 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: side of the Earth. It's got some superpowers. I'm sure 660 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: that's the side of dark star. It's dark squirrel. To 661 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: the idea for these combination stars is that maybe they 662 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: were the first kind of stars in the universe. So 663 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: take your mind back to the very very early universe 664 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: when there's gas and dust and all sorts of stuff 665 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 1: left over from the Big Bang, but we haven't had 666 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 1: a chance yet to form those into the first generation 667 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: of stars and what we call population three stars. But 668 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: there's also a bunch of dark matter, and so this 669 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: idea is as well, maybe dark matter does have some 670 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 1: kind of interaction, some way to get sticky that we 671 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: just haven't seen yet. We haven't noticed yet because we 672 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: haven't been studying it for long enough. And if that happens, 673 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: then maybe sometimes dark matter bumps into itself and explodes 674 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: and like turns into radiation, like giving off light or 675 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: other kinds of particles, And this would be a rare 676 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:22,760 Speaker 1: thing to happen, because if it happened a lot, we 677 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: would have seen it already. But according to their calculations, 678 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:27,959 Speaker 1: it's not something we can rule out. So then the 679 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: ideas you have this like blob of dark matter sitting 680 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: inside a cloud of normal matter, and the blob of 681 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 1: dark matter is bumping into itself, annihilating, producing this radiation 682 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 1: not from fusion, but from this other kind of interaction, 683 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: and that radiation prevents the cloud from collapsing. So this cloud, 684 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: which might eventually otherwise turn into a normal star, is 685 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: now this big, huge blob of stuff gently warmed by 686 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: the radiation from this annihilating dark matter. I see now, 687 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: what makes us think that dark matter would annihilate with itself? Like, 688 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: is there anti dark matter as well? There could be. 689 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: There are various theories of dark matter. Remember that there 690 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: are two kinds of particles. There are direct particles like 691 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,840 Speaker 1: the ones we're made out of, that have an antiparticle, 692 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 1: and then there are myrona particles that are their own antiparticle. 693 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: And we don't know if dark matter is direct or myrna. 694 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: We don't know but in a lot of theories there 695 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: is anti dark matter, and so it could bump into 696 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,080 Speaker 1: itself and it could annihilate. Right until the idea then 697 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: is that you have a normal star with like a 698 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: dark matter turbo. They're generating extra radiation. Yeah, but it's 699 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,640 Speaker 1: not even a normal star. Is just a cloud of stuff. 700 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: It's not compact enough to do fusion, and the dark 701 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: matter is preventing it from collapsing. It's got this like 702 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,960 Speaker 1: little glow of dark matter radiation that's keeping it from 703 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: actually getting compact enough to become a real star. These 704 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: things are huge. They could be like one or two 705 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:51,080 Speaker 1: thousand a U in radius, like really really enormous clouds, 706 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: but not very dense. Right, au is the width of 707 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: our solar system right A use the distance between the 708 00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: Sun and the Earth. So two thousand a U would 709 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: be much much bigger than even our solar system. So 710 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: we're talking about a really huge cloud and it would 711 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:08,040 Speaker 1: be gently warmed by this dark matter annihilation, not very 712 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: very warm, not very hot. In fact, the temperature of 713 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,800 Speaker 1: this thing would be so low that it would basically 714 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,440 Speaker 1: be invisible. Right. But then maybe the question is what 715 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 1: would the dark matter be doing there? Why would it 716 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,440 Speaker 1: annihilate there and not elsewhere, or are you saying it's 717 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: annihilating everywhere. This is assuming that dark matter somehow clumps, right, 718 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,359 Speaker 1: If it's going to be able to annihilate, that means 719 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: it has some kind of interaction, which means it's a 720 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:34,000 Speaker 1: little bit sticky, and so it could clump. And so 721 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,360 Speaker 1: dark matter could annihilate anywhere. Anywhere the dark matter bumps 722 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 1: into other dark matter, it could annihilate. It would be 723 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 1: more likely to happen in places where there is more 724 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,839 Speaker 1: of it. In fact, we have experiments looking for exactly this. 725 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: It's called the Firmy Space telescope. It points to the 726 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:49,600 Speaker 1: center of the galaxy where we think there's a lot 727 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: of dark matter, to see if it can see special 728 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: flashes of light that come from annihilating dark matter. So 729 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,239 Speaker 1: far nothing, but the idea behind this theory is that 730 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,279 Speaker 1: maybe that happens, and may You've got clumps of dark 731 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,839 Speaker 1: matter in the early universe which then annihilate, and if 732 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: they happen to also be in the center of a 733 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 1: big cloud of gas and dust, it gently warms it 734 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,200 Speaker 1: and you can call that a dark star. So what 735 00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:11,799 Speaker 1: would do this look like if we look out into 736 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: the nice guy. You would would look like a cloud 737 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 1: of dust that was glowing a little extra more than usual. Yeah, 738 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:19,279 Speaker 1: it would look like a big cloud of dust, which 739 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,279 Speaker 1: would be mostly invisible unless you use the right frequencies 740 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 1: to see it. And it would be a little bit warm. 741 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:27,280 Speaker 1: So it would be a cloud of gas and dust 742 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,480 Speaker 1: that would be a little bit warm and would give 743 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: off some weird radiation. You might be able to see 744 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: that dark matter radiation, like really high energy photons or 745 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of extra neutrinos from that dark matter annihilation 746 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 1: at the heart of this dark star. Wow, And that's 747 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: the boring possibility here for a dark star. That's like 748 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 1: most detailed, worked out possibility. The rest of it is 749 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: just sort of speculation. You know. If you're going to 750 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:52,760 Speaker 1: go that way, then you can say, well, dark matter 751 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 1: might be more complicated. Why do we think dark matter 752 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,799 Speaker 1: is just one kind of particle? Right? Our matter is many, 753 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:01,840 Speaker 1: man the kinds of particles. We have different kinds of 754 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: quirks and leptons that do all sorts of crazy stuff. 755 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: Why would we imagine that dark matter would just be 756 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,360 Speaker 1: one particle. That's boring, and the universe seems to be complex. 757 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,239 Speaker 1: So let's imagine like a whole different spectrum of dark 758 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,640 Speaker 1: matter with lots of different kinds of dark particles and 759 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 1: maybe even new dark forces that they can use to 760 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 1: interact with each other. M I see. The idea is 761 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,560 Speaker 1: that maybe dark matter is not this like homogeneous cloud 762 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: of one stuff, but rather it's like complex like we are, 763 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: like like our matter, Like there's maybe different kinds of it, 764 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,680 Speaker 1: and they're all interacting with new, different kinds of forces. 765 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,560 Speaker 1: Although they're all invisible to us, they have like a 766 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 1: rich life in their little clouds of dark matter. Yeah, exactly, 767 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,880 Speaker 1: because there's two separate ideas. There can dark matter interact 768 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 1: with us, and that might be only through gravity, But 769 00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:47,280 Speaker 1: even if it can only interact with us through gravity, 770 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: it might have really complex self interactions and might be 771 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: able to do all sorts of crazy things to itself 772 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 1: with itself that we can't see and we can't do. 773 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,240 Speaker 1: And so then maybe you could use some of these 774 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: interesting forces, dark forces and different kinds of dark particles 775 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,960 Speaker 1: to make a dark matter sun. Exactly now, to be 776 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: consistent with what we see in the universe that mostly 777 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,839 Speaker 1: dark matter is cold and slow and fluffy, you can't 778 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,080 Speaker 1: have all the dark matter doing this crazy stuff. But 779 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: you know, we can't probe all of the dark matter, 780 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 1: even if like only of the dark matter is this cold, slow, 781 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:22,839 Speaker 1: fluffy gas of particles. That still leaves you with ten 782 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: percent of the dark matter to do crazy interesting stuff with, 783 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 1: and we wouldn't notice. It wouldn't change the distribution of 784 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,800 Speaker 1: dark matter that we look at. And ten percent of 785 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 1: the dark matter is about the same mass as all 786 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,439 Speaker 1: the normal matter in the universe. And so if you'd 787 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,880 Speaker 1: like allocate ten percent of the dark matter to have 788 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: complicated interactions and do complicated things, then it might form 789 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,520 Speaker 1: really weird interesting emergent phenomena like we're talking about before. 790 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,279 Speaker 1: It would be really hard to predict what quirks and 791 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,080 Speaker 1: leptons look like when you get ten to the forty 792 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,040 Speaker 1: of them into a star. Right, what happens in the 793 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:55,880 Speaker 1: universe when you get these things together and wait a 794 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: billion years, and now you have new kinds of particles 795 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,200 Speaker 1: with new kinds of interactions that might form dark stars, 796 00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:04,359 Speaker 1: but they might also form something else totally crazy we 797 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,400 Speaker 1: never even imagined because we've never seen that kind of 798 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 1: matter before. Right, it would have his own interactions, and 799 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 1: then what would this dark star emit would it emit 800 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,000 Speaker 1: like a different kind of light, like, can we call 801 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,719 Speaker 1: it dark light? Yeah, dark photons exactly. There could be 802 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:24,080 Speaker 1: a copy of electromagnetism, which only works on dark particles, 803 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: particles with a dark charge, and they could emit a 804 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,279 Speaker 1: special photon called a dark photon, and it could be 805 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,399 Speaker 1: very very similar to the kinds of things we see 806 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,120 Speaker 1: over here. It could be like a copy. You know, 807 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 1: we see that a lot also in particle physics, that 808 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,640 Speaker 1: structures we see in one place are replicated elsewhere because 809 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,040 Speaker 1: they refer to deeper patterns in the universe we haven't 810 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,880 Speaker 1: understood yet. So it could be that all the forces 811 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,520 Speaker 1: we see over here in normal matter are copied over 812 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: in dark matter. There's just a special dark version of them, 813 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 1: in which case you could very well get dark stars 814 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:55,520 Speaker 1: having dark fusion with a dark strong force and emitting 815 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,840 Speaker 1: dark photons and dark neutrinos, and to have dark planets 816 00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,080 Speaker 1: around them. Yeah, and that the whole universe of light 817 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: and matter would be existing right on top of us 818 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,440 Speaker 1: right basically and just be kind of invisible to us, 819 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,839 Speaker 1: intangible to us, intangible and invisible. Yeah, it can be 820 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,120 Speaker 1: literally here with us and we wouldn't even know it existed. 821 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:16,680 Speaker 1: The only way we could communicate with it would be 822 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 1: through gravity. Like imagined that on top of us is 823 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,240 Speaker 1: another solar system with a dark star at its center 824 00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: and dark planets in orbit, and we don't know about it. 825 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:26,760 Speaker 1: The only way they could, for example, here about it 826 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,560 Speaker 1: is if you, like, we create a black hole the 827 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 1: Large Hadron collider. They would notice that. Yeah, I think 828 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:36,640 Speaker 1: everyone would notice that. Unfortunately, we would have noticed that 829 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: we're very long. Yeah, and there could even be like 830 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: you know, dark podcasts host talking in a dark podcast 831 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: episode about what we're made out of? Right, Yeah, because 832 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,160 Speaker 1: to them we are dark. Right if we can't see them, 833 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,799 Speaker 1: if they are intangible to us, then the reverse is 834 00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 1: also true. Right. We call ourselves normal matter, but they 835 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: might be calling us dark matter because they can't see us, 836 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 1: or touch us, or interact with us. I mean, they 837 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:05,399 Speaker 1: would call us light matter. Maybe that would be cool, maybe, yeah, 838 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:07,719 Speaker 1: I suppose, But they wouldn't even know what's going on 839 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:10,400 Speaker 1: with us. They wouldn't understand how we interact because they 840 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,280 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to probe us other than through gravity. 841 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,319 Speaker 1: So in this picture where dark matter only interacts with 842 00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: normal matter through gravity, which is the only thing we've 843 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:22,720 Speaker 1: ever seen but has really complex, rich self interactions, which 844 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 1: is possible as long as it's not all of the 845 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,320 Speaker 1: dark matter. We could have it be fairly simple copy 846 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,840 Speaker 1: of our matter and our particles and our interactions. But 847 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,279 Speaker 1: it could also be something totally wacky and different. And 848 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,480 Speaker 1: that's the scenario that I'm hoping for, you know, something 849 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,839 Speaker 1: totally weird and new, because then it would form weird 850 00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:39,480 Speaker 1: structures that we wouldn't even have names for. You could 851 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:41,319 Speaker 1: come up with the names for them when we discover them. 852 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,880 Speaker 1: Do you have that sign above your door, like hoping 853 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:47,480 Speaker 1: for wackiness, looking for waking. I'm rooting for the bonkersness 854 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:50,120 Speaker 1: in the universe for sure. And then also these dark stars, 855 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:54,319 Speaker 1: could they form dark matter galaxies and more absolutely, you know, 856 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,440 Speaker 1: we don't know what kind of structures they form. We 857 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,600 Speaker 1: know that our galaxy started with dark matter. The reason 858 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,400 Speaker 1: that we have a galaxy today is because there was 859 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:06,280 Speaker 1: a big blob of dark matter around that pulled together 860 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 1: the normal matter and let it form these stars and 861 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: form these galaxies. Right, so you could imagine also just 862 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,040 Speaker 1: a pure dark matter blob, Like what if you had 863 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: a huge blob of dark matter out there in space 864 00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:20,040 Speaker 1: with no normal matter in it. So the dark matter 865 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: is not just there to help the normal matter turn 866 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,359 Speaker 1: into a galaxy. It's just going to turn into its 867 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:27,000 Speaker 1: own galaxy, and it makes its own dark matter stars 868 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,759 Speaker 1: that certainly could be out there, all right, Yeah, well 869 00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,600 Speaker 1: then I guess maybe to answer the question of the episode, 870 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,560 Speaker 1: can you make a star out of dark matter? It 871 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:40,440 Speaker 1: sounds like the answer is maybe, but not likely. Maybe, 872 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:43,840 Speaker 1: but we're totally clueless on the critical question of whether 873 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:47,279 Speaker 1: dark matter can interact with itself. If dark matter has 874 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,919 Speaker 1: no self interactions, then to be pretty tough to see 875 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: it making a star. If some subset of dark matter 876 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 1: has really complicated self interactions, then yeah, absolutely you can 877 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,319 Speaker 1: make stars and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Right, 878 00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:00,400 Speaker 1: But from what we know of dark matter, you know, 879 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:01,880 Speaker 1: it seems like what we know of it is that 880 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:04,799 Speaker 1: it's kind of diffused and blobby and cloudy out there. 881 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: Could it be that there are stars out there, we 882 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 1: just see them as the aggregate of them, you know 883 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:11,239 Speaker 1: what I mean? Like, maybe the universe is full of 884 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,719 Speaker 1: dark matter stars, but we don't see them as pinpoints. 885 00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:15,879 Speaker 1: We just see like a fuzzy version of them. Yeah, 886 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:18,359 Speaker 1: that's really the cool idea. It's possible, but that would 887 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:20,799 Speaker 1: also change the whole dynamics of how they interact with 888 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,560 Speaker 1: themselves and the overall speed of them. So I think 889 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:25,880 Speaker 1: it would give us sort of a different distribution of stuff. 890 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,680 Speaker 1: So we can tell a little bit about how slow 891 00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:31,359 Speaker 1: moving and how diffuse the dark matter is just by 892 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:35,400 Speaker 1: like the overall distribution, like the velocity and where it is. 893 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 1: So it's much more likely that it's big fluffy clouds 894 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 1: than that it's a smaller number of stars these pin pricks. Oh, 895 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,120 Speaker 1: I see you're saying that maybe dark matters can't exist, 896 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,359 Speaker 1: but maybe they're rare. They would be rare if they 897 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,040 Speaker 1: could exist. Yeah, if they do exist, then there would 898 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 1: be just a portion of the dark matter, not all 899 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:53,319 Speaker 1: of it. But there's plenty of dark matter out there, 900 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:55,320 Speaker 1: So if you want to slice off a ten percent 901 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,200 Speaker 1: of it to make dark matter stars, that would be 902 00:42:57,239 --> 00:42:59,520 Speaker 1: totally acceptable. Or if you want to make a Marvel 903 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:03,640 Speaker 1: superhero called dark Star. It's too late that one already exists, 904 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:07,440 Speaker 1: but you can option it for your media. Yeah, I'm 905 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 1: sure Marvel was eager to sell out their IP and 906 00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:11,840 Speaker 1: you know, we have looked out there in the universe, 907 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,600 Speaker 1: and we have seen some really weird galaxies, like some 908 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:18,120 Speaker 1: galaxies have extra dark matter. We found one that has 909 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:21,600 Speaker 1: a hundred times more dark matter than our galaxy. So 910 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,160 Speaker 1: there could certainly blobs of stuff out there that are 911 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:27,799 Speaker 1: pure dark matter and we just haven't seen them. Right, Yeah, 912 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,520 Speaker 1: it just has an enormous amount of icing on that cupcake. 913 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:34,239 Speaker 1: That's like my kind of bakery exactly, all right, Well, 914 00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,919 Speaker 1: as usual, the answer is stay tuned. As scientists learn 915 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,400 Speaker 1: more about dark matter and what it can and cannot 916 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,840 Speaker 1: do to itself and how sticky it is, we'll know 917 00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 1: whether or not these stars can exist and how often 918 00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: you find them in the universe, if you can find it. 919 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:50,240 Speaker 1: And what we do know is that we are still 920 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,400 Speaker 1: at the very beginning of understanding even what the universe 921 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,160 Speaker 1: is made out of, and so we haven't even really 922 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,799 Speaker 1: begun to think about what that stuff can do. Can 923 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:02,440 Speaker 1: stars and camels and all sorts of crazy stuff or 924 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,799 Speaker 1: something else completely bonkers that nobody has even thought of. 925 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:07,919 Speaker 1: All right, Daniel, I think I'll give you a star 926 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: for the podcast episode, but maybe a dark star so 927 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:12,319 Speaker 1: you can't see it or touch it or feel it, 928 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:15,280 Speaker 1: but it's there. Trust me. You's gotta you know, close 929 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,880 Speaker 1: your eyes and feel it's pool well, it's intangible and invisible, 930 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,279 Speaker 1: and yet it means so much to me. All Right, 931 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:31,720 Speaker 1: thanks for joining us, See you next time. Thanks for listening, 932 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:34,440 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge explained. The Universe is 933 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:38,000 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast from 934 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,759 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 935 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:49,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Ye