Dead Stars Can Reveal Secrets Of Universe’s Dark Matter. Dark matter has intrigued scientists for centuries as they deem it to be exotic and mysterious, holding secrets of the universe. They believe that dead stars, also called timekeepers, can illuminate the universe’s dark energy.
The dead stars are rapidly spinning neutron stars which come to be when stars are at least eight times as massive as the sun die. These pulsars can spin hundreds of times a second, and blast beams of electromagnetic radiation from their poles.
Initially, these neutron stars seem to be pulsing. They increase in brightness when their beams are pointed directly at our planet.
Dead Stars Can Ravel Secrets Of Universe’s Dark Matter
John LoSecco, array researcher at the University of Notre Dame, said these stars can be used as cosmic timepieces in pulsar-timing arrays. He highlighted that these arrays are precise and can measure gravitational disturbances in the fabric of space and time.
LoSecco explained that science has developed very precise methods to measure time, like Earth has atomic clocks and space has pulsars.
The expert highlighted that dark matter is mysterious because it doesn’t interact with light or ordinary matter, and even if it does, it does it weakly and this cannot be detected. However, dark matter has a gravitational influence.
LoSecco said its presence can be inferred when the influence affects light and ordinary matter. As such, scientists intend to use dead stars to look into the dark matter.
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Researchers examined 12 incidents of variations and delays in the timings of the dead stars. LoSecco said Earth is moving, the sun is moving and the pulsar is moving also, and so is dark matter.
There are deviations in arrival time because of the change in direction. But the deviations are tiny. The expert highlighted that one of their findings found a distortion of about 20 percent of the mass of the sun. This could be used to look into dark matter.
