Researchers hunt for mysterious darkish matter particle with intelligent new trick

Physicists from the College of Copenhagen have begun utilizing the big magnetic fields of galaxy clusters to look at distant black holes of their seek for an elusive particle that has stumped scientists for many years.

It’s a story of extremes which are onerous to fathom.

The heaviest buildings within the universe, clusters of galaxies, are a quadrillion occasions extra large than the solar. And axions, mysterious theoretical particles, are a lot, a lot lighter than even the lightest atom.

The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle that would maintain the important thing to understanding darkish matter, an unknown materials that’s believed to take up about 80% of the mass in our universe.

Nobody has but confirmed the existence of axions, which has eluded researchers for many years. However with a intelligent trick involving faraway galaxies, physicists from the College of Copenhagen presumably got here nearer than ever earlier than.

As a substitute of utilizing a particle accelerator on Earth, just like the one at CERN, the researchers turned to the cosmos and used it as a type of gigantic particle accelerator. Particularly, they looked for electromagnetic radiation emitting from the cores of distant and really vivid galaxies, every with a supermassive black gap at its middle.

They then noticed this radiation because it handed by means of the huge magnetic fields present in galaxy clusters, the place a few of it might hypothetically rework into axions. This transformation would depart behind tiny, random fluctuations within the knowledge. However every sign is so faint that, by itself, it will get misplaced within the background noise of the universe.

So, the researchers launched a novel idea. As a substitute, they noticed a complete of 32 supermassive black holes positioned behind galaxy clusters after which mixed the information from their observations.

When the researchers examined the information, they had been stunned to find a sample that resembled the signature of the elusive axion particle.

“Usually, the sign from such particles is unpredictable and seems as random noise. However we realized that by combining knowledge from many alternative sources, we had reworked all that noise into a transparent, recognizable sample,” explains Oleg Ruchayskiy, Affiliate Professor on the Niels Bohr Institute of the College of Copenhagen and senior creator of a paper in Nature Astronomy titled “Constraints on axion-like particles from active galactic nuclei seen through galaxy clusters” that tries to review the axion.

He provides, “It exhibits up like a singular step-like sample that exhibits what this conversion might appear like. We solely see it as a touch of a sign in our knowledge, however it’s nonetheless very tantalizing and thrilling. You may name it a cosmic whisper, now loud sufficient to listen to.”

Nearer to discovering darkish matter

Whereas the sample revealed by the scientists just isn’t particular proof of the existence of axions, the analysis by Ruchayskiy and colleagues brings us nearer to understanding what darkish matter is.

“This technique has vastly elevated what we learn about axions. It basically enabled us to map a big space that we all know doesn’t include the axion, which narrows down the area the place it may be discovered,” says Postdoc Lidiia Zadorozhna, a Marie Curie fellow on the Niels Bohr Institute, who is likely one of the main authors of the brand new paper.

Whereas this experiment targeted on a particular sort of electromagnetic radiation often called gamma rays, the tactic will also be used on different kinds of radiation, like X-rays.

“We’re so excited, as a result of it isn’t a one-time development. This technique permits us to transcend earlier experimental limits and has opened a brand new path to finding out these elusive particles. The method might be repeated by us, by different teams, throughout a broad vary of lots and energies. That manner we will add extra items to the puzzle of explaining darkish matter,” says Zadorozhna.