An unusual X-ray signal has jumped up again in new measurements, raising hopes it could be a signal of dark matter.
Info from NASA's Chandra Ray x Observatory reveal an overabundance of of X-rays at a certain energy, creating a lump on the plot, scientists statement online at arXiv. org on January 29. The X-ray "line, " as it is known, could reveal the occurrence of dark matter -- an unknown substance that experts believe constitutes almost all of the situation in the naturel.
As the X-ray line has been found previously using a number of different telescopes, some queries came up empty (SN: 9/3/16, p. 17). The new observation strengthens the case that the peculiar feature is real, and eliminates some possible routine explanations.
"This is an extremely thrilling thing, " says astrophysicist Nico Cappelluti of Yale University, a coauthor of the report. "This is another measurement that views the line in another direction. inch
The new analysis uses data used when the telescope was observing deep space, somewhat than pointing at a particular cluster of galaxies. So if the sign indicated dark matter, it could be due to particles in the area surrounding the Milky Way, known as its halo. When theoretical dark matter particles called sterile neutrinos decay, they could produce X-rays at the energy of the queue, about 3, five-hundred electron volts (SN On the web: 12/11/15).
Cappelluti and co-workers found that the comparative intensity of the collection in the halo and the line previously found at the center of the Milky Way was steady with the expected variation in concentration of dark matter in various parts the galaxy.
Darker matter isn't the only possible explanation -- standard physics might also have the ability to describe the line. "There's definitely a lot of debate, " says Shunsaku Horiuchi, an astroparticle physicist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg who was not involved with the new work. The line "looks like it's real, however I don't know if it's dark matter or some atomic physics. inches
Although there's still a tiny chance that the actual result could be a statistical fluke, the analysis eliminates some other possible explanations. Researchers had proposed that the line could be the consequence of sulfur ions catching an electron from hydrogen atoms in space, but that process couldn't describe the new data, Cappelluti and colleagues concluded. Similarly, a quirk of the telescope itself couldn't describe the queue, they identified.
"It's kind of getting other people excited, very well says Horiuchi.
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