{"id":19943,"date":"2021-02-17T13:16:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T07:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=19943"},"modified":"2021-02-17T21:01:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T15:16:03","slug":"smallest-galaxies-bring-more-about-dark-matter-to-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/smallest-galaxies-bring-more-about-dark-matter-to-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Smallest Galaxies Bring More About Dark Matter to Light"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our universe is dominated by a mysterious matter known as dark matter. Its name comes from the fact that dark matter does not absorb, reflect or emit electromagnetic radiation, making it difficult to detect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a team of researchers has investigated the strength of dark matter scattered across the smallest galaxies in the universe using stellar kinematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We discovered that the strength of dark matter is quite small, suggesting that dark matter does not easily scatter together,” said professor Kohei Hayashi, lead author of the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much is unknown about dark matter, but theoretical and experimental research, from particle physics to astronomy, are elucidating more about it little by little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One prominent theory surrounding dark matter is the “self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) theory.” It purports that dark matter distributions in galactic centers become less dense because of the self-scattering of dark matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, supernova explosions, which occur toward the end of a massive star’s life, can also form less dense distributions. This makes it challenging to distinguish whether it is the supernova explosion or the nature of dark matter that causes a less dense distribution of dark matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To clarify this, Hayashi and his team focused on ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Here a few stars exist, rendering the influences of supernova explosions negligible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their findings showed that dark matter is dense at the center of the galaxy, challenging the basic premise of SIDM. Images from the dwarf galaxy Segue 1 revealed high dark matter density at the center of the galaxy, and that scattering is limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our study showed how useful stellar kinematics in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies are for testing existing theories on dark matter,” noted Hayashi. “Further observations using next-generation wide-field spectroscopic surveys with the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph, will maximize the chance of obtaining dark matter’s smoking gun.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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