Scientists May Have Made the First Ever Direct Detection of Mysterious Dark Matter

Scientists may have made the first ever direct detection of dark matter, the mysterious material that has long puzzled physicists. The findings could mean a whole new way to look at the universe.

In this case, the scientists detected a curious signal in the x-ray sky-one that provided further insight into the nature of dark matter. They found what appears to be a signature of "axions," which are predicted dark matter particle candidates.

"The X-ray background-the sky, after the bright X-ray sources are removed-appears to be unchanged whenever you look at it," said Andy Read, one of the researchers, in a news release. "However, we have discovered a seasonal signal in this X-ray background, which has no conventional explanation, but is consistent with the discovery of axions."

The scientists first made this discovery after an extensive study of almost the entire archive of data from the European Space Agency's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton.

"The direct detection of dark matter has preoccupied physics for over 30 years," wrote George Fraser, the first author, who died of March of this year. "It appears plausible that axions-dark matter particle candidates-are indeed produced in the core of the sun and do indeed convert to X-rays in the magnetic field of the Earth."

Currently, it's predicted that the X-ray signal due to axions will be greatest when looking through the sunward side of the magnetic field because this is where the field is strongest. These exciting observations could be truly ground-breaking when it comes to understanding the true X-ray sky and identifying dark matter.

"This is an amazing result," said Martin Barstow, president of the Royal Astronomical Society. "If confirmed, it will be the first direct detection and identification of the elusive dark matter particles and will have a fundamental impact on our theories of the universe."

The findings are published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.