First direct evidence of dark matter

 First direct evidence of dark matter

What is Dark Matter?

Dark matter was first described in the 1930s, when the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky noticed that distant galaxies appeared to be spinning faster than their mass allowed. The observations led to the notion of dark matter, a material that neither emits nor absorbs light, but exerts an unseen gravitational pull on the galaxies it surrounds.

Scientists have searched for dark matter particles ever since, but so far ground-based detectors, space-based telescopes and vast machines such as the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva have drawn a blank.

One of the many theories of dark matter postulates that it is made from so-called weakly interacting massive particles( wimps), which are heavier than the protons found inside atoms, but barely interact with normal matter.

What is the mystery?

What dark matter is made from, and whether it is even real, are still open questions.

What's News?

 According to a study by Prof Tomonori Totani, an astrophysicist at the University of Tokyo, the first direct evidence of the substance may finally have been glimpsed.


When two wimps collide, they can annihilate one another, releasing other particles and a burst of gamma rays.

He spotted a pattern of gamma rays that appeared to match the shape of the dark matter halo that spreads out in a sphere from the heart of the galaxy.

The signal “closely matches the properties of gamma-ray radiation predicted to be emitted by dark matter,” Totani told the Guardian..

Denying success

Totani said the “decisive factor” would be detecting gamma rays with the same spectrum from other regions of space, such as dwarf galaxies. 

According to Prof Justin Read, an astrophysicist at the University of Surrey, the lack of significant signals from such galaxies strongly argues against Totani having seen gamma rays emitted from dark matter particle annihilation.

Prof Kinwah Wu, a theoretical astrophysicist at UCL, also urged caution. “I appreciate the author’s hard work and dedication, but we need extraordinary evidence for an extraordinary claim,” he said. “This analysis has not reached this status yet. It is a piece of work which serves as an encouragement for the workers in the field to keep on pressing.”

Note - (More details Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics)



Compiled by 

Ms Naresh kuwar 

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