In this artistic rendering, a blazar is accelerating protons that produce pions, which produce neutrinos and gamma rays. Photons are also produced. Extreme events in energy are generated by processes occurring around the largest supermassive black holes known in the Universe when they’re actively feeding, as well as around highly magnetic neutron stars and actively feeding stellar mass black holes. (Credit: IceCube collaboration/NASA)

If photons have mass, could they explain dark matter?

Our Universe requires dark matter in order to make sense of things, astrophysically. Could massive photons do the trick?

When it comes to the Universe, there are some things we can be confident are out there based on what we observe. We know that the Universe was hotter, denser, and more…