{"id":704793,"date":"2026-06-15T04:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/704793\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T04:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:24:11","slug":"a-bizarre-new-form-of-dark-matter-could-uncover-the-mysteries-of-gravity-and-our-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/704793\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bizarre New Form of Dark Matter Could Uncover the Mysteries of Gravity\u2014And Our Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

For centuries, scientists have been hunting for an invisible glue that many believe holds our cosmos together. They have yet to observe this \u201cdark matter,\u201d but there are convincing signs it exists; the effects of the gravity<\/a> it creates on nearby objects can be observed, for example. Learning more could be the key to solving the deepest mysteries of the universe<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And astronomers may have just unlocked a valuable clue that could help them, finally, observe the material. Most scientists theorize that dark matter<\/a> comprises roughly 85 percent<\/a> of the matter in the universe, but scientists believe that it\u2019s made of stuff invisible to our telescopes. Another reason it\u2019s hard to observe, some scientists believe, is that the mysterious substance could be what they call \u201ccollisionless,\u201d meaning its particles interact with each other and other material indirectly.<\/p>\n

However, a recent study<\/a> published in Physical Review Letters is turning that assumption on its head. The study authors propose a new type of dark matter that they claim could be \u201cself-interacting.\u201d Unlike the traditional conception of dark matter, these particles would not only interact with each other, but also other material around them.<\/p>\n

In everyday human terms, self-interacting dark matter behaves like a crowd of people who deliberately bump into each other instead of quietly avoiding others in the group, says Hai-Bo Yu, PhD, a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, who was one of the study\u2019s authors. Rather than being made of collision-free and \u201ccold\u201d (or slow-moving) material, Yu\u2019s research suggests that self-interacting dark matter could explain some kinds of structures we do see with telescopes.<\/p>\n

However, one challenge in proving Yu\u2019s theory is the fact that we don\u2019t know what particles dark matter is made of, explains Yonatan Khan, PhD, a physicist at the University of Toronto, who did not participate in the study. \u201cWe don\u2019t know how much it weighs, we don\u2019t know whether it interacts with ordinary matter through forces of open gravity, and we also don\u2019t know whether it interacts with itself,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Khan says Yu isn\u2019t the first to propose this form of matter, but the reason it hasn\u2019t been proven is because of observation issues: \u201cPart of the challenge has been trying to find the right astrophysical observables that really focus on the signatures of self-interacting dark matter,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But if dark matter could interact with itself, Yu suggests that when the particles collide with each other, they would produce energy so immense that it could create dense, compact cores. However, our supercolliders, or machines that smash particles together at eye-watering speeds, aren\u2019t yet powerful enough to find the particles associated with dark matter. But if we eventually do find these cores, Yu says they could help explain three important cosmic puzzles\u2014pulling back the curtain on the inner workings of our universe.<\/p>\n

Scars on the universe<\/p>\n

A stream of stars located roughly 25 light-years away called GD-1 appears \u201cscarred,\u201d likely from the energy of an object that crashed through it long ago. In 2025, Yu was part of a team that wrote a paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/a>, suggesting that this unknown object would have had to be extremely dense and made of a self-interacting form of dark matter. The team stated the scar left on the stream is too big to otherwise explain with the density of cold dark matter.<\/p>\n

Yu adds that more observations of different stellar streams are needed to verify the work. And this isn\u2019t some distant dream\u2014studying these bands of stars could be possible in the next five years as more wide-field telescopes come online (such as the forthcoming Vera C. Rubin space telescope, located in northern Chile). \u201cThen we might be able to exclude other explanations,\u201d such as whether the gravitational well [or strength] of a galaxy changes over time and morphs stellar streams, Yu says.<\/p>\n

Bizarre gravitational effects<\/p>\n

Astronomers often take advantage of \u201cmagnifying glasses\u201d in space. These aren\u2019t the iconic detective tools you might\u2019ve played with as a child; rather, they\u2019re phenomena produced when one very dense object\u2014such as a galaxy\u2014magnifies the light of an object behind it (from the perspective of an astronomer on Earth), allowing them to see faint stars or galaxies otherwise too difficult to spot with a telescope alone.<\/p>\n

And self-interacting dark matter may be key to learning more about these magnifying glasses. Yu suggests there is an ultra-dense dark matter object in one of these gravitational lens systems, known as JVAS B1938+666. However, he also acknowledges recent research<\/a> that suggests that many factors could be contributing to the lens\u2014including the gravity of a nearby elliptical (oval) galaxy.<\/p>\n

The challenge in proving or disproving the theory is that the lens is quite far away and it\u2019s difficult to figure out what is happening. \u201cIt\u2019s also particularly hard in astronomy, because [the lens] occurs far away from us. You cannot reproduce it in a laboratory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unusual star clusters<\/p>\n

There is a mysterious dwarf galaxy, smaller than our Milky Way, that American astronomer Harlow Shapley discovered in 1938. Known as the Fornax satellite galaxy\u2014as it\u2019s a \u201csatellite\u201d of our own\u2014the galaxy hosts six star clusters, including the strange Fornax 6. The bizarre star cluster is dimmer than expected, and also has an irregular shape.<\/p>\n

While some astronomers say the gravity from Fornax 6\u2019s host galaxy might be tugging on the stars, Yu instead refines the discussion by suggesting that a clump of dark matter may be trapping stars into the cluster. But again, newer observatories will be needed to find similar clusters and to add validity to his research, he warns.<\/p>\n

Yu and Khan agree that with more evidence coming in, self-interacting dark matter could be responsible for these three cosmic mysteries\u2014and might reveal more about the nature of the universe, including particles here on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think this study is the end of the story at all,\u201d Khan says.<\/p>\n

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