SPACE.COM - A new type of self-interacting dark matter could provide solutions to three very different cosmic puzzles, new research suggests.
The first mystery that could be solved involves an ultradense clump of matter detected in the system JVAS B1938+666, which is gravitationally lensed, or visibly distorted, thanks to a quirk of general relativity. The second has to do with a visible "scar" in a stream of stars called GD-1. It basically looks like a dense, invisible object ripped through the stream. And finally, there is the confusing formation of an unusual star cluster named Fornax 6 in the Fornax satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, which could have occurred if a dense patch of dark matter acted as a gravitational trap capturing passing stars.
The new research argues that if dark matter interacts with itself, that could explain away all three of these unique situations." What's striking is that the same mechanism works in three completely different settings — across the distant universe, within our galaxy, and in a neighboring satellite galaxy," Hai-Bo Yu of the University of California, Riverside and the Center for Experimental Cosmology and Instrumentation, said in a statement. "All show densities that are difficult to reconcile with standard model dark matter but arise naturally in self-interacting dark matter."