by Just how quickly is the dark matter near Earth zipping around? The speed of dark matter has far-reaching consequences for modern astrophysical research, but this fundamental property has eluded researchers for years.
In a paper published Jan. 22 in the journal Physical Review Letters, an international team of astrophysicists provided the first clue: The solution to this mystery, it turns out, lies among some of the oldest stars in the galaxy.
"Essentially, these old stars act as visible speedometers for the invisible dark matter, measuring its speed distribution near Earth," said Mariangela Lisanti, an assistant professor of physics at Princeton University. "You can think of the oldest stars as a luminous tracer for the dark matter. The dark matter itself we'll never see, because it's not emitting light to any observable degree—it's just invisible to us, which is why it's been so hard to say anything concrete about it."
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In a paper published Jan. 22 in the journal Physical Review Letters, an international team of astrophysicists provided the first clue: The solution to this mystery, it turns out, lies among some of the oldest stars in the galaxy.
"Essentially, these old stars act as visible speedometers for the invisible dark matter, measuring its speed distribution near Earth," said Mariangela Lisanti, an assistant professor of physics at Princeton University. "You can think of the oldest stars as a luminous tracer for the dark matter. The dark matter itself we'll never see, because it's not emitting light to any observable degree—it's just invisible to us, which is why it's been so hard to say anything concrete about it."
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