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New Two-Component Dark Matter Model Aims to Explain Milky Way Gamma-Ray Glow

The model says the local mix of two particles controls where gamma rays appear.

Overview

  • The study by Asher Berlin, Joshua Foster, Dan Hooper, and Gordan Krnjaic, published Thursday, April 9 in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, proposes two kinds of dark matter particles.
  • In this model, gamma rays appear when the two types meet, so the local mix of particles sets the annihilation rate.
  • The idea aims to match Fermi data that show a gamma-ray glow near the Milky Way and no comparable signal in dwarf galaxies.
  • The authors say dwarf-galaxy data are limited and they call for deeper Fermi observations to test the model against pulsar-based explanations.
  • Scientists still have not seen dark matter directly, and they infer it from how gravity moves stars and gas.