While scientists are yet to obtain direct evidence of the existence of dark matter, a new study recently published on the preprint online repository arXiv suggests that a certain type of this enigmatic substance may leave subtle clues pointing to its existence.
The new research postulates that some of the dark matter may be self-interacting, i.e. its particles may interact with one another, however slightly.
Therefore, since self-interacting and non-interacting types of dark matter behave differently when piling up in the cores of galaxy clusters, detailed observations of the distribution of mass in galaxy clusters may yield a hint of dark matter’s existence, Space.com notes.
The media outlet points out, however, that the self-interacting dark matter theory is itself yet to be confirmed, and that evidence of such self-interaction may come in the form of, for example, a galaxy whose disk has been warped in a way that can only be explained by the presence of self-interacting dark matter.
Also, since self-interacting dark matter is expected to “clump up” in a manner different from that of non-interacting dark matter, it may also affect the rotation curves of galaxies, Space.com adds, and thus tip off observant astronomers.