Large number of dark matter peaks found using gravitational lensing
A number of studies have shown that dark matter is the principle mass component of the universe making up about 80% of the mass budget. The most direct technique to reveal the dark matter distribution is by using the gravitational lensing technique. Indeed, following Einstein's theory of gravitation, we know that a mass concentration will deform locally the space-time and the observed shapes of distant galaxies seen through the such concentration will be deflected and distorted. By measuring the exact shapes of millions of these distant galaxies we can then map accurately the mass distribution in the universe, and identify the mass peaks tracing mass concentration along their line of sight. Importantly, the number of mass peaks as a function of the mass peak significance encodes important information on the cosmological world model. In particular this distribution is sensitive to the nature of gravitational force at large scales as well...