O4<\/a>, ran from May 2023 to November 2025 and detected around\u00a0250 candidate events, many of which are still under analysis.<\/p>\n\u201cWe are still looking carefully at the data,\u201d said\u00a0Nico Sanchis-Gual\u00a0from the University of Valencia, a co-lead on the project. \u201cThere may be signals that don\u2019t quite fit what we expect from black holes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boson star theory<\/p>\n
Among the most intriguing candidates under investigation are\u00a0boson stars\u00a0\u2013 hypothetical ultra-compact objects that could look like black holes from afar. However, they do not have an\u00a0event horizon, the boundary of a black hole from which nothing, not even light, can escape. From the outside they would look somewhat fuzzy, but inside they would be full of dark matter particles.<\/p>\n
Boson stars might be made up of ultralight dark matter, possibly of invisible subatomic particles called axions that would be trillions upon trillions of times lighter than an electron.<\/p>\n
Studying the possibility of having an object the size of a planet, with a mass similar to the Sun, but very different inside, has fascinated researchers. \u201cIt\u2019s mind-blowing,\u201d said Sanchis-Gual.<\/p>\n
If they do exist, then it is possible they might occasionally collide and merge together, like we know star-sized black holes do, producing detectable gravitational waves. That\u2019s where the NewFunFiCO team comes in, trying to look for the signal we would expect from such an event in LIGO\u2019s data.<\/p>\n
GW190521 might have been an example of such an event. \u201cWere two of them to collide, they would produce a gravitational wave signal that fits that particular signal slightly better than two black holes,\u201d Herdeiro said.<\/p>\n
Clues to dark matter<\/p>\n
It is not just boson stars the researchers are looking for. There are also mixed stars. For example,\u00a0where a neutron star \u2013 the dense object left behind after a star explodes \u2013 has a dark matter core, and also gravastars, exotic objects that mimic black holes, but do not have the same structure at their centre and no event horizon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to take advantage of the golden era of gravitational wave observations we live in, and search for objects that have never been seen before but which theoretically could exist,\u201d said Herdeiro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese exotic objects relate to some of the deep mysteries in physics, such as dark matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
If correct, the scientists\u2019 findings could transform our understanding of dark matter and the universe as a whole. Even if not, it opens up exciting new avenues of physics that have not been widely explored before, and could be a way to uncover strange new phenomena in the cosmos.<\/p>\n
On the hunt<\/p>\n
NewFunFiCO runs until the end of 2026, having started in 2023 with funding provided by the EU\u2019s Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the key aspects here is that we involve European partners with non-European partners,\u201d said Herdeiro. That means exchanging knowledge but also culture. \u201cThis is why EU funding has been so important. It gives a different dimension to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/p>\n
There may be signals that don\u2019t quite fit what we expect from black holes.<\/p>\n
Nico Sanchis-Gual, NewFunFiCO<\/p>\n
The benefits of such ambitious programmes spill over to the general public too, Herdeiro added. \u201cBlack holes, cosmology, the beginning of the universe, they capture people\u2019s imagination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other benefits are economic. \u201cLarge experimental infrastructures have spin-offs that people are not aware of,\u201d he said, giving the example of how LIGO required extremely precise detectors, which has led to developments in broader electronics.<\/p>\n
The quest to measure tiny distortions in space-time has pushed laser interferometry (measuring minuscule changes in distance with laser light), sophisticated vibration isolation systems and ultra\u2011precise optics to unprecedented levels of sensitivity.<\/p>\n
Similar technologies are now used in areas such as precision manufacturing, medical imaging and navigation systems.<\/p>\n
The biggest takeaway, however, is that there may be strange objects in the universe on the cusp of discovery, hidden clumps of dark matter masquerading as stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main vision right now is that there\u2019s some dark matter particle,\u201d said Sanchis-Gual. \u201cSo this is a possibility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
If even one such object is confirmed, it would give physicists one of their first real clues as to what dark matter is \u2013 and change how we see the universe.<\/p>\n
Research in this article was funded by the Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2019, a strange event was observed in the depths of space. Called GW190521, the event sent out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[49,48,314,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-477268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-physics","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}