Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have discovered a possible new explanation for a gamma-ray signal known as the Galactic Centre Excess that emanates from the very centre of our galaxy, SciTechDaily reports.
As the media outlet explains, while the signal in question has been regarded by astronomers as a potential signature of dark matter, the new study – which also involved scientists from the Australian Defence Force Academy, University of Canterbury, and University of Tokyo – suggests that it may also be caused by millisecond pulsars – a type of rapidly rotating neutron star.
Associate Professor Roland Crocker, a co-author of the study, has explained that their work “does not throw any doubt on the existence of the signal, but offers another potential source”.
"Scientists have previously detected gamma-ray emissions from individual millisecond pulsars in the neighborhood of the solar system, so we know these objects emit gamma-rays", he elaborated. "Our model demonstrates that the integrated emission from a whole population of such stars, around 100,000 in number, would produce a signal entirely compatible with the Galactic Center Excess".
He also suggested that the results of their research "point to another important source of gamma-ray production", as, for example, "the gamma-ray signal from Andromeda, the next closest large galaxy to our own may be mostly due to millisecond pulsars".