New Research Suggests Lighter Dark Matter May Explain Galactic Center Mysteries

A recent study suggests that lighter dark matter particles could be responsible for unusual phenomena observed at the center of our galaxy. Researchers, including Dr. Shyam Balaji from King's College London, discovered positively charged hydrogen clouds in the galactic center, an anomaly as hydrogen is typically neutral. The energy required to strip electrons from hydrogen atoms suggests a continuous energy source, potentially from dark matter with a much smaller mass than previously theorized. The prevailing theory posits that dark matter consists of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), but this new research, published in Physical Review Letters, proposes lighter particles that annihilate each other, producing charged particles that ionize hydrogen gas. This could also explain the mysterious 511-keV X-ray signal detected in the galactic center. Dr. Balaji notes that observing the galactic center directly offers clues that Earth-based dark matter experiments might miss. If this hypothesis holds, it could significantly advance our understanding of dark matter and other astronomical puzzles.