### Astronomers Question Dark Matter After Surprising Discoveries with JWST

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have made surprising observations indicating that some of the universe's oldest galaxies appear significantly larger and brighter than previously expected. Their findings suggest these galaxies may have formed and expanded rapidly without the influence of dark matter, challenging longstanding cosmological theories.

Stacy McGaugh, an astrophysicist at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, highlighted the implications of these discoveries. "The expectation was that every big galaxy we see in the nearby universe would have started from these itty-bitty pieces," McGaugh said. "What the theory of dark matter predicted is not what we see."

The standard cosmological model, which relies heavily on the role of cold dark matter, suggests a gradual hierarchical evolution of galaxies. This model explains the diverse structure of galaxies observed today. However, the data from JWST has not revealed the faint signals from small, primitive galactic fragments as expected. Instead, the early galaxies observed were much larger and brighter, prompting questions about the validity of the cold dark matter model.

These unexpected findings align more closely with an alternative theory known as modified Newtonian dynamics, or MOND. "The bottom line is, 'I told you so,'" McGaugh stated, emphasizing the process of making predictions and verifying them in scientific research. Developed by Israeli physicist Mordehai Milgrom in 1982, MOND suggests gravity behaves differently at very weak levels, such as at the edges of galaxies, without relying on dark matter or dark energy.

It's worth noting that some of JWST's bright observations could be attributed to active supermassive black holes rather than galaxies. However, this replaces the issue of overly rapid star formation with the problem of early supermassive black hole formation, which remains equally puzzling.

While MOND has its critics and struggles to fit into a comprehensive framework that explains a broad range of cosmological phenomena, it offers predictions that are difficult to dismiss. On the other hand, the dark matter paradigm, though fitting many observations, falls short in explaining certain phenomena observed by MOND.

McGaugh and his colleagues discussed their findings and the resulting theoretical quandary in their paper published in The Astrophysical Journal. They acknowledge the challenge of reconciling these two conflicting theories but remain convinced that MOND's accurate predictions indicate it reveals some underlying truth, even if that truth is as enigmatic as the nature of dark matter itself.