An astrophysicist at the University of Miami, USA, Nico Cappelluti has published a paper that may help shed light on the mystery that astrophysicists have been struggling to solve for many decades: what is dark matter and where did it come from?
According to modern concepts, 95 percent of the mass of the Universe is hidden from observation and is in the form of so-called "dark matter", a substance that participates only in gravitational interaction, and therefore cannot be detected using astronomical instruments focused on electromagnetic radiation.
Capelutti's study examines one interesting cosmic source of radiation, which was recorded with four different telescopes that observe the sky in different directions. While making X-ray observations of the sky using NASA's Chandra space observatory, Capelutti and his colleagues discovered an unusual emission line corresponding to a radiation energy of 3.5 keV, not characteristic of any atom known to science. One of the interpretations of the nature of this line today assumes the decay of dark matter particles.
Of particular interest in Dr. Capelutti's study is the fact that the 3.5 keV emission line he discovered belongs to a source lying within the boundaries of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
This fall, a number of scientists from around the world are planning to gather at the University of Miami to organize a major data collection project to study the nature of the 3.5 keV emission line.