?Is dark matter hiding near the center of our galaxy
The universe is an unstable place to live in. Roughly 85% of the matter in the universe continues to puzzle astronomers, called dark matter, an exotic, unknown but still essential substance. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, appears as a bright, flat disk in a clear sky, but we don't see the huge ball of dark matter surrounding our galaxy. In fact, it is a halo that becomes denser the closer we get to the center of our galaxy.
Although dark matter is widespread in the universe, it evades our best scientific tools; it does not interact with light and other electromagnetic forces. This means when looking for massive collisions between matter and dark matter, there aren't many discoveries. But a new study in the journal Physical Review Letters suggests using a group of gas giants, Jupiter-like planets, where gravity keeps dark matter suspended, resembling cosmic quicksand. This causes molecules to collide and destroy each other. Creating a thermal signal that astrophysicists can theoretically detect.
An idea this large would measure the temperature of a wide range of planetary surfaces near the center of our galaxy, increasing the likelihood of detecting thermal signals from the impact of dark matter destruction.
The search for dark matter will accelerate thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope
Physicists have built detectors on Earth made of silicon chips or using liquid argon to detect these thermal signals directly, and even the Large Atomic Collider has played an important role in the search for exotic particles that indicate the presence of dark matter. But they also think that dark matter affects neutron stars, which means observing them as they pass by other cosmic bodies will lead to huge discoveries.
“We know that there are planets and stars scattered within the dark matter halo,” says Rebecca Lin, a stellar particle physicist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. “Only by moving in the halo can objects interact with dark matter.”
According to Lin and research co-author Juri Smirnov of Ohio University, gas giants like Jupiter are abundant in the center of the galaxy, which by calculations means the temperature rise we are likely to see will be pronounced and significant. This fall, NASA will launch the most accurate thermometer ever, called the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The telescope captures infrared radiation and will be the most powerful telescope ever launched into outer space.
Zooming in on the search for elusive dark matter
“It's a surprising and innovative way to detect dark matter,” says Joseph Bramante, a particle physicist at Queen's University, who has an affiliation with the MacDonald Institute in Ontario. Although Bramante was not connected to the new study, he investigated the possibility of finding dark matter on other planets, and suggested that if we find extraordinarily hot planets in the center of our galaxy, this would be major evidence for the existence of dark matter.
An earlier version of Lin's research, initially posted on the Ollie server, suggested that gas giants like Jupiter might contain the secrets of dark matter. As it collects a sufficient amount of dark matter in its huge gravity, the probability of successive collisions and annihilations will become great. But scaling up the idea to point the James Webb Telescope at the densest cluster of planets at the center of our galaxy will bring us closer to detecting traces of dark matter.
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