In astronomy and cosmology, dark fluid is an alternative theory to both dark matter and dark energy and attempts to explain both phenomena in a single framework. Dark fluid proposes that dark matter and dark energy are not separate physical phenomena as previously thought, nor do they have separate origins, but that they are strongly linked together and can be considered as two facets of a single fluid. At galactic scales, the dark fluid behaves like dark matter, and at larger scales its behavior becomes similar to dark energy. Our observations within the scales of the Earth and the Solar System are currently insufficient to explain the gravitational effects observed at such larger scales. A simple dark fluid with negative mass has been shown to have the properties required to explain both dark matter and dark energy.
Overview
Two major conundrums have arisen in astrophysics and cosmology in recent times, both dealing with the laws of gravity. The first was the realization that there aren't enough visible stars or gas inside galaxies to account for their high rate of rotation. The hypothesis of dark matter was created to explain this phenomenon. It postulates that the galaxies are spinning as fast as they are because there is more matter in those galaxies than can be seen by summing only the mass of stars and gas, and that this unseen matter is invisible because it doesn't interact with the electromagnetic force from which all forms of light come. The hypothesized dark matter was subsequently extended to clusters of galaxies, and found useful for cosmological calculations and for interpreting gravitational lensing by galaxies. The second conundrum came from the observations of a very specific kind of supernova, known as a Type Ia supernova used as a standard candle: When they were compared in distant vs. nearby galaxies, it was found that the distant supernova were fainter than expected, and thus farther away than expected. This implied that the Universe was not only expanding, but accelerating its expansion. Hypothesizing dark energy can explain this phenomenon. The traditional approach to modeling the effects of gravity assumes that general relativity is as valid at cosmological scales as it is in the Solar System, where its predictions have been more accurately tested. Not changing the rules of gravity, however, implies the presence of dark matter and dark energy in parts of the Universe where the curvature of the spacetime manifold is far less than that in the Solar System. It is phenomenologically possible to alter the equations of gravity in regions of low spacetime curvature such that the dynamics of the spacetime causes what we assign to the presence of dark matter and dark energy. Dark fluid theory hypothesizes that the dark fluid is a specific kind of fluid whose attractive and repulsive behaviors depend on the local energy density. In this theory, the dark fluid behaves like dark matter in the regions of space where the baryon density is high. The idea is that when the dark fluid is in the presence of matter, it slows down and coagulates around it; this then attracts more dark fluid to coagulate around it, thus amplifying the force of gravity near it. The effect is always present, but only becomes noticeable in the presence of a very large mass such as a galaxy. This description is similar to theories of dark matter, and a special case of the equations of dark fluid reproduces dark matter. On the other hand, in places where there is relatively little matter, as in the voids between galactic superclusters, this hypothesis predicts that the dark fluid relaxes and acquires a negative pressure. Thus dark fluid becomes a repulsive force, with an effect similar to that of dark energy. Dark fluid goes beyond dark matter and dark energy in that it predicts a continuous range of attractive and repulsive qualities under various matter density cases. Indeed, special cases of various other gravitational theories are reproduced by dark fluid, e.g. inflation, quintessence, k-essence, f, Generalized Einstein-Aether f, MOND, TeVeS, BSTV, etc. Dark fluid theory also suggests new models, such as a certain f model that suggests interesting corrections to MOND that depend on redshift and density.
Simplifying assumptions
Dark fluid is not analyzed like a standard fluid mechanics model, because the complete equations in fluid mechanics are as yet too difficult to solve. A formalized fluid mechanical approach, like the generalized Chaplygin gas model, would be an ideal method for modeling dark fluid, but it currently requires too many observational data points for the computations to be feasible, and not enough data points are available to cosmologists. A simplification step was undertaken by modeling the hypothesis through scalar field models instead, as is done in other alternative approaches to dark energy and dark matter.
