A new research recently published may have answered the question of dark matter that has baffled scientists for decades.
The newly published study in arXiv suggests that the waves of dark matter interacting with the planet’s upper atmosphere may form radio signals that could be detectable and helpful in studying the mysterious component of the universe, reported Live Science Sunday.
Astronomers have found strong evidence of the existence of dark matter while studying galaxies and other celestial bodies of massive structures in the cosmos.
To study the phenomenon, the European Space Agency (ESA) also launched its first probe Euclid aimed to study dark matter and dark energy.
The ESA’s probe was launched into space on Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 rocket on July 1, last year. Dark matter is an invisible material whose presence is known mainly based on its gravitational effects at a galactic scale.
Dark matter does not produce or directly interact with light but is thought to make up 85% of the universe, with the remaining 15% comprising normal matter.
What the dark matter is made of also remains a mystery.
For a recent study, experts explored models of ultralight dark matter that wasn’t completely dark. It allowed it to interact extremely rarely with normal matter, even if they do, it is unnoticeable.
According to the outlet, such would be known when the dark matter interacts with plasma and when the frequency of its waves becomes parallel with the frequency of plasma waves. This is how radio waves would be generated.
Experts believe that our planet’s ionosphere — a hot, thin layer of the upper atmosphere has particles that the waves would be generated, however, barely detectable.
