dark matter tagged posts

A Black Hole as light as 40 tons can exist inside a star if dark matter helps

A black hole as light as 40 tons can exist inside a star if dark matter helps
Schematic illustration of the competing processes governing the evolution of an endoparasitic black hole (EBH) inside a compact star. The EBH simultaneously accretes baryonic matter from the stellar medium (black arrows) and captured dark-matter particles (blue arrows), while losing mass through Hawking radiation (red arrows). The three panels illustrate the possible regimes: (a) accretion dominates and the EBH grows, (b) accretion and Hawking evaporation balance and the EBH remains at approximately constant mass, and (c) Hawking evaporation dominates and the EBH shrinks and ultimately evaporates. The relative number of arrows schematically represents the balance between the corresponding mass-flow rates. In case (b), EBH can have a mass as small as 40 metric tons. Credit: H. A. Adarsha
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Scientists think dark matter might come in two forms

Dark Matter Might Come in Two Forms
Dark matter might not be one particle, but two—and that could explain why only the Milky Way shows a mysterious gamma-ray signal. If the balance between these particles varies across galaxies, the universe may be hiding its clues in uneven ways. Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com

Dark matter may come in two flavors—finally explaining why its signals appear in some galaxies but vanish in others. A mysterious glow of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way has long hinted at dark matter, but the lack of similar signals in smaller dwarf galaxies has cast doubt on that idea. Now, researchers propose a bold twist: dark matter might not be a single particle at all, but a mix of two different types that must interact with each other to produce detectable signals.

Sometimes, not seeing somet...

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Dark matter, not a black hole, could power Milky Way’s heart

'Dark matter, not a black hole, could power Milky Way's heart'
Artistic representation of the Milky Way, where the innermost stars move at near relativistic speeds (defined as velocities that constitute a significant fraction of the speed of light, typically considered to be 10% or more) around a dense core of dark matter, with no black hole at the centre. At greater distances, the halo part of the same invisible dark matter distribution continues to shape the motions of stars in the outskirts of our galaxy, tracing the characteristic rotation curve. Credit: Valentina Crespi et al. License type Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

Our Milky Way galaxy may not have a supermassive black hole at its center but rather an enormous clump of mysterious dark matter exerting the same gravitational influence, astronomers say...

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Scientists just mapped the hidden structure holding the universe together

The Universe’s Hidden Structure Revealed
This map shows the Dark Matter distribution in the COSMOS field observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and by the James Webb Space Telescope (right). Dark Matter distribution in the COSMOS field. The overlaid contours mark regions of equal dark-matter density, highlighting where this invisible matter – shown here in a blue color ­– is most strongly concentrated. Credit: Dr. Gavin Leroy/Professor Richard Massey/COSMOS-Webb collaboration

Scientists have produced the most detailed map ever created of dark matter that runs throughout the Universe, revealing how it has influenced the formation of stars, galaxies, and planets.

The research, which includes astronomers from Durham University in the UK, provides new insight into how this unseen substance helped draw ordinary matt...

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