Astronomers found evidence that dark matter and neutrinos may interact, hinting at a “fundamental breakthrough” that challenges our understanding of how the universe evolved.
Two of the universe’s most mysterious particles may be colliding invisibly throughout the cosmos — a discovery that could solve one of the biggest lingering problems in our standard model of cosmology.
Those two elusive components — dark matter and neutrinos (or “ghost particles”) — are ubiquitous throughout the cosmos, yet they remain poorly understood. In a study published Jan. 2 in the journal Nature Astronomy, an international team of researchers found evidence that dark matter and neutrinos may collide, transferring momentum between them in the process.
This surprising interaction may help to explain why the universe is less populated by dense regions, like galaxies, than predicted — in other words, the universe is less “clumpy” than cosmologists think it should be, the researchers said in a statement.