Image Source: Physicist Organization Website
BEIJING, April 9th (Xinhua) -- Physicists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics of the Universe at the University of Melbourne, Australia, published a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, stating that through calculations, they have discovered that when dark matter particles collide and annihilate within the cooling corpse of a neutron star, the energy transferred can rapidly heat up the star. This research suggests for the first time that the majority of the energy can be stored within a few days. Neutron stars may hold the "key" to understanding the mysterious dark matter, providing a direction for scientists to unravel one of the great mysteries of the universe.
The search for dark matter is one of the most intriguing events in the scientific community. Dark matter constitutes 85% of the universe's matter, yet it remains invisible. Dark matter does not interact with light, neither absorbing nor reflecting it, nor does it emit light itself. This means that even though its existence is known, it cannot be directly observed with telescopes.
Researchers state that theoretically predicting dark matter is one thing, but observing it experimentally is another. Neutron stars play the role of enormous natural dark matter detectors, accumulating dark matter throughout the long history of the universe.
When a supermassive star exhausts its fuel and collapses, it forms a neutron star. They have masses similar to the Sun but are compressed into a sphere only 20 kilometers wide. If the density is even greater, it would become a black hole.
The interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter is extremely weak, to the extent that it can pass directly through the Earth, or even the Sun. Neutron stars have very high densities, making it more likely for dark matter particles to interact with the star. If dark matter particles do indeed collide with neutron stars within the stars, they lose energy and become trapped. Over time, dark matter accumulates within the star. This could potentially heat up ancient, cold neutron stars to observable levels, or even trigger the collapse of stars into black holes.
Researchers explain that if energy transfer occurs rapidly enough, the neutron star will be heated up. To achieve this, dark matter must undergo multiple collisions within the star, transferring more and more dark matter energy until eventually all the energy is stored within the star.
Researchers have calculated that 99% of the energy is transferred within a few days. This means that dark matter can heat up neutron stars to levels that may be detectable. Therefore, observations of cold neutron stars will provide important information about the interaction between dark matter and ordinary matter, thus revealing the nature of mysterious dark matter.
