A new study has once again sparked worldwide interest in the search for dark matter — one of the greatest mysteries in modern physics.
Astrophysicist Tomonori Totani, from the University of Tokyo, said he found evidence of the phenomenon in the center of the Milky Way, when analyzing gamma ray signals captured by NASA’s Fermi telescope. According to him, the observed emission pattern corresponds to the shape expected of a halo of dark matter that surrounds the galaxy.
Dark matter, first theorized in the 1930s by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky, has never been directly observed. The hypothesis arose when scientists noticed that distant galaxies were rotating faster than their mass would allow, suggesting the presence of an invisible force exerting additional gravity.
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Totani’s new research, published in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physicssupports the idea that massive and poorly interacting particles — known as wimps — could collide and generate bursts of gamma rays detectable by space instruments.
The scientist claims that the pattern observed by Fermi “matches very closely” with the radiation predicted by theoretical models of dark matter.
The analysis reinforces a study released in October by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics, which also pointed to similar signals coming from the galactic center.
Despite the enthusiasm, Totani highlights that the hypothesis is not yet conclusive. He claims that conventional astrophysical processes, such as emissions from neutron stars or black holes, need to be completely ruled out before the phenomenon can be attributed to dark matter.
Confirmation would require detecting identical signatures in other regions of the universe, such as nearby dwarf galaxies, considered ideal environments for this type of investigation.
The scientific community maintains a cautious stance. Physicist Joseph Silk, co-author of another recent study on the subject, recalls that dark matter “dominates the universe and holds galaxies together”, but has not yet been directly identified.
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Still, he acknowledges that the excess light observed at the center of the Milky Way may represent the most promising clue yet — a possible step toward unraveling one of the biggest unknowns in the cosmos.
