Researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai have proposed a theory that predicts how dark matter may be annihilating much more rapidly in the Milky Way, than in smaller or larger galaxies and the early Universe.

Anirban Das, with his advisor Dr. Basudeb Dasgupta, pursued this possibility because almost all observations made so far indicate no signals of dark matter annihilation anywhere - except the tantalizing signals from the Milky Way seen by the PAMELA and AMS02 detector and the Fermi gamma ray telescope.

If the dark matter origin of these signals stands further scrutiny and signals aren't seen from anywhere except the Milky Way, their theory would explain why the Milky Way appears to be special.

In the enchanting night sky, with myriad galaxies and stars, what we see is only about 20% of all the matter in the Universe. The remaining is in the form of a non-luminous and exotic form of matter that we know little about.

This so-called dark matter has been the object of intense scientific exploration in the last few decades. According to many popular theories, dark matter particles annihilate at the same rate in both small and large astronomical bodies and at all times in the Universe.

This new study published in the journal Physical Review Letters on 23rd June 2017, shows that this peculiar behaviour of the annihilation rate, in that it is not the same everywhere, stems from the symmetries of the annihilating dark matter particles.

Further, it would predict that dark matter is made of more than one particle and interacts through a yet-undiscovered low-mass particle.

The absence of dark matter annihilation signals outside the Milky Way could be a crucial hint towards this richer theory of dark matter, which will be tested by future observations.

Research Report

Tweet

"Seeing the Beginning of Time" Features the Dark Energy Survey
Champaign IL (SPX) Jun 15, 2017
"Seeing the Beginning of Time" takes viewers on a visually compelling journey through deep space and time. The 50-minute, 4K science documentary was co-produced by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Thomas Lucas Productions as part of a National Science Foundation supported project called CADENS (Centrality of Advanced ... read more

Related Links
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only