First observational evidence of ‘Dark Matter Heating’ discovered

Researchers have discovered the first observational evidence of ‘dark matter heating’ in distant galaxies, placing an important constraint on future dark matter models.

Even though astronomers and cosmologists have long been able to infer the presence of a mysterious substance that makes up the vast majority of matter in the universe- provisionally named dark matter- the characteristics of this substance have been slow to reveal themselves, mainly due to the fact that it does not strongly interact with light. The latest observed characteristic seems to confirm a long-held theory that dark matter can be heated and moved around by star-formation says research published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

As dark matter doesn’t interact with light in the same way that everyday matter — or baryonic matter— does, astronomers have been forced to use its gravitational influence to perform observations of it. Using this method, researchers at the University of Surrey, Carnegie Mellon University and ETH Zürich set out to hunt for evidence for dark matter at the centres of nearby dwarf galaxies. Dwarf galaxies — small, faint galaxies that are typically found orbiting larger…