Energy Signals From Milky Way's Core Could Unveil New Type Of Dark Matter: Study

Dark matter remains one of the greatest mysteries in science, continuing to defy efforts to fully understand it. A new study suggests that clues about dark matter may be hidden in the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone, a large area of hydrogen molecules surrounding the centre of our galaxy. Dark matter makes up about 85 per cent of the matter in the universe, but it doesn't interact with light and seems to only affect regular matter through gravity. Although we can detect its presence through its gravitational effects, very little is known about its true nature.

According to a news release, in this first-of-its-kind study, scientists have taken a step closer to understanding the elusive mystery matter. They believe a reimagined candidate for dark matter could be behind unexplained chemical reactions taking place in the Milky Way.

Dr Shyam Balaji, postdoctoral research fellow at King's College London and one of the lead authors of the study, explains, "At the centre of our galaxy sit huge clouds of positively charged hydrogen, a mystery to scientists for decades because normally the gas is neutral. So, what is supplying enough energy to knock the negatively charged electrons out of them?

"The energy signatures radiating from this part of our galaxy suggest that there is a constant, roiling source of energy doing just that, and our data says it might come from a much lighter form of dark matter than current models consider."

The most established theory for dark matter is that it is likely a group of particles known as 'Weakly Interacting Massive Particles' (WIMPs), which pass through regular matter without much interaction - making them extremely hard to detect.

However, this study, published today in Physical Review Letters, has potentially revived another type of dark matter with much lower mass than a WIMP.

The researchers think that these tiny dark matter particles are crashing into each other and producing new charged particles in a process called 'annihilation'. These newly produced charged particles can subsequently ionise the hydrogen gas.