Scientists have used pulsars within the Milky Way as tools to investigate the presence of ultralight dark matter particles. Pulsars, which are highly regular spinning neutron stars, can be affected by gravitational waves, making them sensitive to spacetime distortions and potentially capable of detecting dark matter. The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) collaboration has utilized these cosmic timekeepers to search for the imprint of ultralight dark matter by examining the arrival times of electromagnetic pulses from 25 pulsars.
The EPTA’s research looked for oscillations in the gravitational potential caused by accumulations of ultralight dark matter particles, which would alter the pulse arrival times. However, they found no evidence of such alterations. As a result, they concluded that if ultralight dark matter particles with masses between 10^-24.0 and 10^-23.3 electronvolts do exist, they could only constitute 60% to 70% of the dark matter in our galaxy. This finding narrows down the possible characteristics of dark matter and rules out some of the lightest dark matter candidates.
Key Takeaways:
- Pulsars’ precise emissions have been employed to detect gravitational waves and to test for the presence of ultralight dark matter in the Milky Way.
- The European Pulsar Timing Array found no evidence of ultralight dark matter particles within a specific mass range, suggesting they do not significantly contribute to the Galaxy’s dark matter.
- Research indicates that if ultralight dark matter particles exist in the Milky Way, they could constitute no more than 60-70% of the dark matter content.
“Finding no such pattern in data for 25 pulsars, the EPTA collaboration placed an upper limit on the possible density of ultralight dark matter with particle masses of 10 ?24.0 to 10 ?23.3 eV.”
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