[Physics] If the universe is full of dark matter, why is it only 2.73 K cold

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people!

I am just a physics layman, but I recently watched a documentary about the universe and it was told that

  1. the universe is full of dark matter and energy and
  2. the universe is empty, so that the average temperature measured by the cosmic microwave background is about 2.73 Kelvin.

They also said, that temperature is (also) depending on gravity or mass respectively. That's why the sun is so hot, since there is huge mass concentrated, and the empty space is cold, since there is no mass. Or is it?

So now my question(s): IF there is almost only dark matter and energy in the universe with HUGE mass effects which explains interstellar movement etc., why is the universe only 2.73 K cold? Shouldn't it be warmer? Isn't the 2.73 Kelvin the temperature you get, if you calculate the temperature without dark matter and energy?

Best Answer

The temperature 2.73 K is not calculated, it is measured. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) has the properties of a blackbody radiation at the temperature 2.73 K. It is based just on the measurement of CMB, no calculation of dark matter or dark energy is involved.

Temperature does not simply depend on mass or gravity. Temperature is a quantity which in a lot of situations is difficult to define. For example a black hole can be extremely massive and have huge gravity, but the black body radiation from such a black hole is extremely cold. If there is nothing falling into the black hole, there won't be any other radiation.

The dark energy particles (if dark energy is made up of particles) do not interact electromagnetically or strongly (and maybe not even weakly), so they play virtually no role in our discussions about what we call "temperature of the universe".

We know basically nothing about dark energy, so it also is not included in our definition of temperature.

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