An ultra-high-resolution map of (dark) matter

TL;DR

This paper presents an ultra-high-resolution, wide-area weak-lensing map of dark matter using JWST data, revealing detailed structures and co-evolution of dark and luminous matter up to redshift 2.

Contribution

It provides the highest-resolution dark matter map to date from JWST, enabling detailed studies of cosmic structure and dark matter properties.

Findings

Map covers 0.77x0.70 deg with 1 arcmin resolution.

Reveals dark matter structures up to redshift 2.

Sets a benchmark for future dark matter and structure formation studies.

Abstract

Ordinary matter-including particles such as protons and neutrons-accounts for only about one sixth of all matter in the Universe. The rest is dark matter, which does not emit or absorb light but plays a fundamental role in galaxy and structure evolution. Because it interacts only through gravity, one of the most direct probes is weak gravitational lensing: the deflection of light from distant galaxies by intervening mass. Here we present an extremely detailed, wide-area weak-lensing mass map, covering 0.77 deg x 0.70 deg, using high-resolution imaging from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of the COSMOS-Web survey. By measuring the shapes of 129 galaxies per square arcminute-many independently in the F115W and F150W bands-we achieve an angular resolution of 1.00 +/- 0.01 arcmin. Our map has more than twice the resolution of earlier Hubble Space Telescope maps, revealing how dark and luminous matter co-evolve across filaments, clusters, and under-densities. It traces mass features out to z ~ 2, including the most distant structure at z ~ 1.1. The sensitivity to high-redshift lensing constrains galaxy environments at the peak of cosmic star formation and sets a high-resolution benchmark for testing theories about the nature of dark matter and the formation of large-scale cosmic structure