Scientists have proposed a new method for searching for elusive dark matter. Neutron stars can help in its detection. These supernova remnants are so dense that the invisible matter in them can somehow interact with ordinary matter, and we can see it even on Earth.
Elusive Dark Matter
Thong Nguyen, an astronomer at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and his colleagues have published a new study that may help us get clear evidence of the existence of dark matter. The existence of this type of matter mainly follows from general cosmological theories. It must be present, otherwise the Universe would not have the appearance that we know.
But we cannot directly observe dark matter, because it does not interact with ordinary matter except through gravity. That is why all the evidence of its existence is indirect. Stars are held in galaxies, and those in clusters due to its action. And sometimes it bends the light.
However, all these cases can be attributed to the action of ordinary matter, which is simply not illuminated by any radiation. But scientists have proposed a way to see how dark matter interacts with visible matter. Neutron stars can help them in this.
Neutron stars as natural laboratories
Due to the fact that scientists have not yet determined which particles dark matter consists of, they will not say for sure whether it can somehow react with ordinary matter and which particles are formed in this case. However, we firmly believe that if this happens anywhere, it is where the density of atoms is greatest. Scientists on Earth come up with various complex experiments for this, but they already exist in nature.
Neutron stars are the cores of stars that explode as supernovae. They are so dense that a little more and they would turn into black holes. Nguyen’s work is devoted to the interaction of dark matter with ordinary matter. He assumed that in such conditions it would lose energy and gradually accumulate.
The amount of dark matter inside neutron stars should grow all the time until its individual particles begin to collide with each other, giving rise to something new. Sooner or later, a lot of neutrinos should appear. It is extremely difficult to catch this particle, but we can do it.
Therefore, scientists propose to investigate the direction to the Galactic center. There are especially a lot of neutron stars there. If an excess of neutrinos is observed from there, this may indicate the existence of dark matter.
According to www.space.com
Follow us on Twitter to get the most interesting space news in time
https://twitter.com/ust_magazine
