Dark matter may explain radio filaments at galaxy’s center

BBC : Unexplained “filaments” of radio-wave emission close to our galaxy’s center may hold proof of the existence of dark matter, writes Jason Palmer for the BBC. First discovered in the 1980s, the filaments are known to be regions of high magnetic fields, and they emit high-frequency radio waves. Now Dan Hooper at Fermilab and colleagues have posted a paper on the arXiv e-print server suggesting that the filaments’ emission arises from dark-matter particles crashing into each other. And the electrons created in those crashes could be responsible for the synchrotron radiation detected here on Earth. The researchers claim that the theory can explain many of the different features that are observed in the filaments’ emission, such as the brightness of the filaments closer to the galactic center compared with those farther away—there’s more dark matter closer to the galactic center. Nevertheless, several other ideas that do not invoke dark matter could account for the filaments; more observations using more radio telescopes are needed.