'Gravity portals' could morph dark matter into ordinary matter, astrophysicists propose

[Judi Lynn]

By Paul Sutter - Astrophysicist 8 hours ago



(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Astrophysicists have an idea that could help to solve two mysteries: the reason for the bizarre abundance of super-high-energy radiation shooting from the center of our galaxy and the identity of invisible stuff called dark matter that has perplexed the world since its discovery some 50 years ago.

And the idea has a super-cool name: gravity portals. The idea goes, when two dark matter particles (whatever they are) get sucked into one of these portals, they obliterate each other and spit out shockingly strong gamma rays.

This line of thinking can potentially explain why the galactic center — where dense clusters of dark matter are thought to lurk — is full of gamma rays; and it could shed light on how the dark matter behaves and might occasionally interact with the normal matter of our universe.

What dark matter has to be
More than 80% of the matter in our universe is of a form unknown to the standard model of particle physics. Scientists call it "dark matter," because it does not interact with light. The first hint of dark matter's existence came in the 1970s, when astronomer Vera Rubin noticed that galaxies were rotating far too quickly — without an additional, hidden source of gravity, they should have torn themselves apart eons ago.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/gravity-portals-solve-dark-matter-gamma-ray-mystery.html

[Chainfire]

1. I am not sure that I believe all that stuff.

I am going to fill up the car tonight and drive to the center of the Universe in the morning to check it out. I should be back by sunset and I will report back. The center of the Universe is Mar-a-Lago, right?

The kinds of physics those folks think about are so far above my head as to seem to be completely foreign, fantastic and fictional. I should have studied more math. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the horse and buggy theory of General Relativity. I am glad, however, that there are people who think and write about such things, so that some day we may have a better understanding about where we live, without having to go to dusty old books of fiction, full of supernatural beings that run the place.