Chinese Academy of Sciences reports sharp Fermi gamma-ray WIMP signal
A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences just shared what they believe is the strongest evidence yet for dark matter, the stuff that makes up most of our universe but we can't see.
Their research, recently published in Physical Review Letters, used data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope collected over 15.5 years.
They spotted a "sharp" gamma-ray signal that's linked to WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles), which are top contenders for what dark matter could be.
Lead author calls possible 'smoking gun'
WIMPs are thought to be heavy particles that only interact with normal matter too weakly with the electromagnetic and nuclear forces to be observable via light or other particle interactions with normal matter.
When two WIMPs collide, they can create gamma rays, and they found a sharp gamma-ray signal.
The study's first author Yi-Zhong Fan called their discovery a possible "smoking gun" for dark matter, it seems worthwhile to investigate the signal's physical origin, though the calculations "disfavors an instrumental origin."
With new telescopes on the way, we might finally get answers about one of space's biggest mysteries.