Dark matter might not remain a mystery for long as scientists come up with novel idea

Earth’s uppermost surface could help us solve the mystery of a lifetime- the existence or nonexistence of dark matter- a theoretical yet one of the most-intriguing area of interest.

As per a new study, the Earth’s ionosphere interacted with hypothetical dark matter to release unique radio waves. In other words, the ultra light dark matter (which wasn’t dark at all) interacted with normal matter, mainly because of the presence of plasma in Earth’s ionosphere.

The study was published in arXiv. If astronomers and scientists are able to perfect this observation technique to search for these radio waves, it can open new avenues of study for the dark matter.

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Earth’s upper atmosphere might have answers to mystery of dark matter

The study shows that most of the time, the dark matter interactions with the normal matter were barely registered, which produced nothing detectable at all. However, in rare cases, the dark matter and normal matter interacted enough to produce sizeable amount of radio waves.

The team’s model suggested this rare occurrence can happen again if the dark matter encounter a plasma, and when the frequency of dark matter waves are lined up with the frequency of plasma waves. A resonance will take place that will amplify the interaction of dark matter and normal matter, producing radiation in the form of radio waves.

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The universe is loaded with plasma, as all stars in the space spew plasma in the form of stellar wind. But in this new research, the scientists discovered an interaction point much closer to home- our planet's ionosphere.

Earth's ionosphere is thin, hot layer in the upper atmosphere, and it consists of a loose collection of ionized (charged) particles — also a plasma. It naturally has waves sloshing through it, and the researchers discovered that those waves can interact with waves of hypothetical dark matter that might be washing over Earth.

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The radio waves produced by this interaction, however, would be barely detectable, but by using a carefully tuned radio antenna to search for a specific frequency of radio waves over the course of a year, researchers might be able to detect these waves.

The idea is revolutionary as Earth's ionosphere offers an edge over other sources of dark-matter produced radio waves. One is ofcourse ionosphere's easy access that is already a subject of constant monitoring and study. Second, the ionosphere naturally reflects many radio waves from deeper space, making it relatively devoid of contaminating signals.

(With inputs from agencies)