Dark matter has been a mysterious concept in astronomy for years. It's a hypothetical material that hasn't been directly seen, despite making up 27 per cent of the mass of the universe.
We may be closer to solving this mystery however, after a new study suggested it could be the result of primordial black holes.
This could also explain the mysteries of gravitational waves, which were observed last year by the Ligo observatory.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of space-time that travel outward from the source that created them – such as colliding black holes. When the waves were first detected, a group of Cambridge scientists described them as "profound".
"If there is a detection, you have got the means to use this phenomenon to explore parts of the universe we haven't had information about before," they wrote at the time.
Now Alexander Kashlinksy, an astronomer at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre, believes early black holes can "perfectly explain" gravitational waves.
Using the Spitzer Telescope, Kashlinky and his team observed 13 billion-year-old light from the early universe – infrared and X-ray light that could "only" be produced by black holes.
Many earlier theories suggested that gravitational waves were the result of two black holes colliding. But this theory suggests these black holes were primordial – and that dark matter itself is made from the same material.
Kashlinksy believes that primordial black holes would have created more 'hals' – clumps of dark matter that eventually turn into stars, planets and galaxies – therefore explaining the background light observed at Spizter.
Researchers will now attempt to discern whether or not Ligo's gravitational waves come from primordial black holes.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
