Amazing things are happening at the center of our galaxy. Giant clouds of hydrogen become positively charged. Scientists believe that this is caused by an unknown type of dark matter.
What’s going on at the center of the Milky Way?
Researchers from King’s College London say they have found evidence for the existence of at least two different kinds of dark matter. At least, they explain the existence of its second kind by the mysterious processes that occur in the center of the Milky Way.
Dark matter is a mysterious kind of matter that makes up most of the mass of the Universe. However, no one has ever seen it. Its existence is evidenced only by the gravitational force, which causes galaxies to rotate in a different way than one might assume from observing stars and nebulae.
The options for what dark matter should consist of are many. Among other things, scientists propose so-called WIMPs — massive weakly interacting particles — as candidates for its constituent particles. No one can say exactly what it is and how it is related to the other “bricks of matter”, but it fits into the picture that is observed in relation to galaxies quite well.
Charged hydrogen clouds
However, there are plenty of other mysterious phenomena in space. In particular, there are giant clouds of interstellar hydrogen near the center of the Milky Way. Usually they are neutral, but in this case they have a positive charge. That is, there should be some powerful source of energy, which tore electrons from the orbitals of atoms.
What this source is, no one knows for sure. Previously, cosmic rays were suggested for this role. However, in the new study, the energy signatures of the radiation are too strong to be explained in this way.
And no, WIMPs can’t explain this phenomenon either. However, that didn’t stop the researchers and they decided that dark matter was to blame anyway. It’s just some completely different kind of particle that composes it: much less massive than WIMP.
At the same time they should annihilate on collision and create streams of more familiar particles, which charge the interstellar clouds. Their existence could well explain another phenomenon — the existence of a radiation line with energy of 511 keV in the center of the Galaxy.
According to phys.org
