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Credit score: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe (NASA JPL/Caltech and STScI)
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Credit score: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe (NASA JPL/Caltech and STScI)
Darkish matter is one in every of science’s best mysteries. It does not take up, replicate or emit mild, so we will not see it. However its presence is implied by the gravitational results it seems to have on galaxies.
Though darkish matter makes up about 85% of the cosmos, scientists know little or no about its basic nature.
Theories abound, and analysis by Clemson College postdoctoral fellow Alex McDaniel gives among the most stringent constraints on the character of darkish matter but. His analysis additionally reveals a small trace of a sign that if actual, may very well be confirmed someday within the subsequent decade or so.
The work is printed within the journal Bodily Evaluate D.
“With information assortment and new discoveries sooner or later, this small trace may doubtlessly flip into a really concrete detection of a darkish matter mannequin,” McDaniel stated.
Detecting darkish matter can be groundbreaking.
“Darkish matter is among the most vital issues in astrophysics, and we all know subsequent to nothing about it. Discovering it will likely be an amazing breakthrough,” stated Marco Ajello, an affiliate professor within the Clemson Division of Physics and Astronomy and McDaniel’s adviser. “Whoever discovers could win a Nobel Prize. It is that large.”
On this work, McDaniel and collaborators had been looking dwarf galaxies for darkish matter that self-annihilates into atypical matter and gamma rays, a type of mild on the highest power ranges. Dwarf galaxies are perfect for examine as a result of they’re small, wealthy in darkish matter and principally lack different astrophysics phenomena similar to gasoline, mud and supernova that might contaminate the findings.
“We search for these as a result of ideally, they offer us a clear sign or permit us to rule out sure particle theories,” McDaniel stated.
Some fashions predict that darkish matter has a sure mass or cross part, which is the likelihood of a selected occasion occurring as a result of interplay of particles. That might decide what researchers would count on to see in gamma rays. If they do not see that, they’ll rule out these plenty and cross sections, he stated.
“On this paper, we do extra ruling out, saying that darkish matter cannot have these plenty or cross part,” stated Chris Karwin, a former postdoc at Clemson and a co-author of the examine. Karwin is now a postdoctoral fellow on the NASA Goddard Area Flight Middle. “However in comparison with earlier research, we do begin to see a touch of one thing that is perhaps a sign from these programs.”
McDaniel’s examine makes use of the bigger samples that embrace extra found dwarf galaxies and bigger quantities of information than earlier research. He included about 50 dwarf galaxies in his examine however stated that with new, extra highly effective telescopes coming on-line within the close to future, he expects that quantity to extend to 150–200.
“The brand new telescopes are principally dwarf galaxy detectors,” he stated. “We’re projecting with these enhancements it is doable that as a substitute of getting just a bit trace of a sign, we are able to have one thing that is a bona fide detection.”
Ajello added, “If it [the signal] is actual, ultimately it will likely be confirmed.”
Extra data:
Alex McDaniel et al, Legacy evaluation of darkish matter annihilation from the Milky Manner dwarf spheroidal galaxies with 14 years of Fermi -LAT information, Bodily Evaluate D (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.109.063024 On arXiv: DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2311.04982