NASA's James Webb Telescope (JWST) has made a stunning discovery that could shed light on one of the greatest mysteries of the universe: dark matter. The powerful new eye on the cosmos has spotted three bright objects that might be "dark stars", theoretical objects much bigger and brighter than our sun, powered by particles of dark matter annihilating.
What are dark stars?
Dark stars are hypothetical objects that are believed to be among the first stars ever formed in the universe, when it was just 700 million years old. Unlike normal stars, which are powered by nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms, dark stars are powered by the annihilation of dark matter particles.
Dark matter is a mysterious substance that makes up about 25% of the universe, but cannot be seen by conventional telescopes. We can only infer its presence by its gravitational effects on visible matter, such as galaxies and stars. Scientists think that dark matter consists of a new type of elementary particle, and one of the leading candidates is called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).
When WIMPs collide, they annihilate each other and release energy. This energy can heat up collapsing clouds of hydrogen gas and prevent them from forming normal stars. Instead, these clouds could become dark stars, which are much larger and more luminous than normal stars.
How did JWST find them?
JWST is the most advanced space telescope ever built, designed to observe the distant and faint objects in the infrared spectrum. It was launched in December 2021 and has been exploring the early universe ever since.
A team of three astrophysicists - Katherine Freese at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Cosmin Ilie and Jillian Paulin '23 at Colgate University - analyzed images from JWST and found three candidate dark stars that were initially identified as galaxies.
The three objects, named JADES-GS-z13-0, JADES-GS-z12-0, and JADES-GS-z11-0, are located very far away, at redshifts of 13, 12 and 11 respectively. This means that they are among the oldest objects ever observed, dating back to when the universe was less than a billion years old.
The researchers used models to estimate the properties of these objects, such as their mass, temperature and luminosity. They found that they are very bright, but too cool for fusion to be happening. This suggests that they are powered by something else, possibly dark matter annihilation.
Why is this important?
If confirmed, the discovery of dark stars would be a major breakthrough in astrophysics and cosmology. It would provide direct evidence for the existence and nature of dark matter, one of the deepest unsolved problems in physics. It would also help us understand how the first stars and galaxies formed in the early universe, and how they influenced its evolution.
However, the identification of dark stars is not yet conclusive. The researchers cautioned that there are many uncertainties and assumptions involved in their analysis, and that alternative explanations cannot be ruled out. They called for more observations from JWST to look for spectroscopic signatures that could confirm or reject their hypothesis.
"Discovering a new type of star is pretty interesting all by itself, but discovering it's dark matter that's powering this - that would be huge," Freese said in a statement.
Source:
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(5) James Webb Space Telescope spots 3 possible dark matter stars | Space. https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-stars-dark-matter.
(6) James Webb Telescope catches glimpse of possible first-ever 'dark stars .... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230713192847.htm.
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