The study found that dark matter may interact with ordinary matter outside the scope of gravity

The reason we call it Dark matter Darkness is not because it is some mysterious substance. This is because dark matter does not interact with light.

The difference is subtle, but important. Ordinary matter can be dark because it absorbs light. For this reason, for example, we can see The shadow of molecular clouds against the stars scattered in the Milky Way. This is possible because light and matter have a way of communicating.

Light is an electromagnetic wave, and atoms contain electrically charged electrons and protons, so matter can emit, absorb and scatter light. Dark matter is not electrically charged. It has no way to communicate with light, so when light and dark matter meet they pass through each other.

All our observations indicate that dark matter and light have only gravitational attraction in common.

When dark matter collects around a galaxy, for example, the force of its gravity can deflect light. For this reason, we can map the distribution of dark matter in the universe by observing how light is affected around it.

We also know that dark matter and regular matter interact gravitationally. The pull of dark matter causes galaxies to clump together into giant clusters.

But the unanswered question is whether matter is dark and regular only Gravity interacts. If an atom and a dark matter particle intersect, will they pass through each other?

Since we have not directly observed dark matter particles, we can only speculate, but most models of dark matter argue that gravity is the only common link with light and ordinary matter. Dark matter and regular matter crowd around each other, but they don’t collide and merge like interstellar clouds.

But a new He studies He suggests Monday He does Interaction, which can reveal hidden aspects of mysterious things.

The study looks at six ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, or UFDs. They are satellite galaxies near the Milky Way and appear to contain far fewer stars than their mass would suggest.

This is because it is composed mostly of dark matter. If normal and dark matter interact only via gravity, the distribution of stars in these small galaxies should follow a certain pattern. If dark and regular matter interacted directly, this distribution would be skewed.

To test this, the team ran computer simulations of both scenarios. They found that in the non-interacting model, the distribution of stars should become denser at the center of UFDs and more diffuse at the edges.

In the interactive model, the stellar distribution should be more uniform. When they compared these models to observations of the six galaxies, they found that the interaction model was a slightly better fit.

Comparison between non-interacting and interacting dark matter. (Gabriel Perez)

So it appears that dark and regular matter interact in ways that go beyond gravitational forces.

There are not enough data to determine the exact nature of the interaction, but the fact that there is any interaction at all is surprising.

This means that our traditional models of dark matter are at least partly wrong. It may also point the way toward new ways to detect dark matter directly. Over time, we may finally be able to solve the mystery of this dark matter, but it is not completely invisible.

This article was originally published by The universe today. Read Original article.