Johns Hopkins researchers could have recognized what might be a compelling clue within the ongoing hunt to show the existence of darkish matter.
A mysterious diffuse glow of gamma rays close to the middle of the Milky Way has stumped researchers for many years, as they’ve tried to discern whether or not the sunshine comes from colliding particles of darkish matter or rapidly spinning neutron stars.
It seems that each theories are equally seemingly, in keeping with new analysis revealed as we speak within the journal Physical Review Letters.
If extra gamma gentle just isn’t from dying stars, it might turn out to be the primary proof that darkish matter exists.
Key Takeaways
- There’s a mysterious glow of gamma-ray gentle on the middle of the Milky Way.
- When darkish matter particles collide, they seemingly emit a flash of gamma-ray gentle.
- Scientists used supercomputers to simulate the historical past of the galaxy and map the place darkish matter and gamma-ray gentle from darkish matter collisions can be.
- Those maps verify that the glow might come from darkish matter particles colliding, although its not definitive proof.
“Dark matter dominates the universe and holds galaxies together. It’s extremely consequential and we’re desperately thinking all the time of ideas as to how we could detect it,” mentioned co-author Joseph Silk, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins and a researcher at Institute of Astrophysics, Sorbonne University and CNRS. “Gamma rays, and specifically the excess light we’re observing at the center of our galaxy, could be our first clue.”
Silk and a global group of researchers used supercomputers to create maps of the place darkish matter must be positioned within the Milky Way, making an allowance for for the primary time the historical past of how the galaxy fashioned.
Today, the Milky Way is a comparatively closed system, with out supplies coming in or going out of it. But this hasn’t all the time been the case. During the primary billion years, many smaller galaxy-like programs made from darkish matter and different supplies entered and have become the constructing blocks of the younger Milky Way. As darkish matter particles gravitated towards the middle of the galaxy and clustered, the variety of darkish matter collisions elevated.
“[Dark matter is] extremely consequential and we’re desperately thinking all the time of ideas as to how we could detect it. Gamma rays, and specifically the excess light we’re observing at the center of our galaxy, could be our first clue.”
Joseph Silk
Professor of physics and astronomy
When the researchers factored in additional practical collisions, their simulated maps matched precise gamma ray maps taken by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
These matching maps spherical out a triad of proof that means extra gamma rays within the middle of the Milky Way might originate with darkish matter. Gamma rays coming from darkish matter particle collisions would produce the identical sign and have the identical properties as these noticed within the real-world, the researchers mentioned—although it isn’t definitive proof.
Light emitted from reinvigorated, previous neutron stars that spin rapidly—referred to as millisecond pulsars—might additionally clarify the present gamma ray map, measurements, and sign signature. But this millisecond pulsar principle is imperfect, the researchers mentioned. To make these calculations work, researchers need to assume there are extra millisecond pulsars in existence than what they’ve noticed.
Answers could include the development of an enormous new gamma ray telescope referred to as the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Researchers imagine knowledge from the higher-resolution telescope, which has the capability to measure high-energy alerts, will assist astrophysicists break the paradox.
The analysis group is planning a brand new experiment to check whether or not these gamma rays from the Milky Way have larger energies, which means they’re millisecond pulsars, or are the decrease power product of darkish matter collisions.
“A clean signal would be a smoking gun, in my opinion,” Silk mentioned.
In the meantime, the researchers will work on predictions about the place they need to discover darkish matter in a number of choose dwarf galaxies that circle the Milky Way. Once they’ve mapped their predictions, they’ll evaluate them to the hi-res knowledge.
“It’s possible we will see the new data and confirm one theory over the other,” Silk mentioned. “Or maybe we’ll find nothing, in which case it’ll be an even greater mystery to resolve.”