Triton Station

Triton Station is a blog about the science and sociology of cosmology and dark matter. Some posts are commentary, some are summaries of refereed papers, and some are written at the level of conference proceedings – scientific contributions that don’t rise to the level of a formal paper. It is written to be accessible to the scientifically curious layman while also being relevant to professional scientists. Since the mode of scientific communication continues to evolve, posts can be cited via Rougue Scholar, which provides digital object identifiers.

Much of the discussion to be found here is dedicated to the debate between dark matter and modified gravity. The discrepancy between observed motions in extragalactic systems and those predicted by Newton and Einstein is well established. Something is clearly missing in our understanding of the universe; what that is remains one of greatest mysteries of modern physics.

The observed discrepancy is usually interpreted to imply the existence of some novel form of invisible mass: dark matter. This inference assumes that gravity works everywhere as Newton and Einstein taught us, so another possibility is that the force law changes on the relevant scales. The relevant scale is not one of size; rather, it turns out to be one of low acceleration, a₀ ~ 10^-10 m/s/s. While most theories of modified gravity are easily falsified, one called MOND has had many of its a priori predictions realized. In contrast, the concept of dark matter is virtually impossible to falsify. This blog attempts to weigh the various lines of evidence and apply the scientific method.

All material on Triton Station © Stacy McGaugh 2016 – present.

This is done for the love of science and joy of discovery, not for money. It nevertheless costs real money to publish and maintain, so you’re welcome to make a contribution if you are so inclined.