A new kind of cosmic object could help solve one of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark matter.<\/p>\n
Particle Astrophysicists have proposed the existence of a strange new type of star-like object, called a ‘dark dwarf’, which may be quietly glowing in the center of our galaxy.<\/p>\n
Far from being dark in appearance, these unusual objects are powered by dark matter (the invisible substance thought to make up about a quarter of the universe).<\/p>\n
The discovery comes from a UK-US research team and the full research findings has been published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP).<\/p>\n
Using theoretical models, the scientists suggest that dark matter can get trapped inside young stars, producing enough energy to stop them from cooling and turning them into stable, long-lasting objects they call dark dwarfs.<\/p>\n
Dark dwarfs are thought to form from brown dwarfs, which are often described as failed stars.<\/p>\n
Brown dwarfs are too small to sustain the nuclear fusion that powers most stars, so they cool and fade over time. But if they sit in a dense pocket of dark matter, like near the Milky Way’s center, they could capture dark matter particles.<\/p>\n
If those particles then collide and destroy each other, they release energy keeping the dark dwarf glowing indefinitely.<\/p>\n
The existence of these objects depends on dark matter being made of specific kinds of particles, known as WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles).<\/p>\n
These are heavy particles that barely interact with ordinary matter, but could annihilate with one another inside stars, providing the energy needed to keep a dark dwarf alive.<\/p>\n
To tell dark dwarfs apart from other faint objects like brown dwarfs, the scientists point to a unique clue: lithium.<\/p>\n
The researchers believe dark dwarfs would still contain a rare form of lithium called lithium-7.<\/p>\n
In normal stars, lithium-7 gets burned up quickly. So, if they find an object that looks like a brown dwarf but still has lithium-7 that’s a strong hint it’s something different.<\/p>\n
Study co-author Dr Djuna Croon of Durham University, said: “The discovery of dark dwarfs in the galactic center would give us a unique insight into the particle nature of dark matter.”<\/p>\n
The team believes that telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope could already be capable of spotting dark dwarfs, especially when focusing on the center of the galaxy.<\/p>\n
Another approach might be to look at many similar objects and statistically determine whether some of them could be dark dwarfs.<\/p>\n
Finding just one of these dark dwarfs, the researchers say, would be a major step towards uncovering the true nature of dark matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new kind of cosmic object could help solve one of the universe’s greatest mysteries: dark matter. Particle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[199,79,9692],"class_list":{"0":"post-9792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-physics","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-space-exploration-stars-space-telescopes-nasa-galaxies-dark-matter-astronomy-cosmology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}