
The Galactic Center excess is an unforeseen concentration of gamma-rays emerging from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
This view reveals the whole sky at energies higher than 1 GeV based upon 5 years of information from the LAT instrument on NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope; the most popular function is the intense band of scattered radiance along the map’s center, which marks the main airplane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA/ DOE/ Fermi LAT Collaboration.
Gamma-rays are a type of electro-magnetic radiation with the quickest wavelength and greatest energy.
The anomalous gamma-ray signal originating from the core of the Milky Way Galaxy was very first found in 2009 by the Large Area Telescope, the main instrument on NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
Its origin has actually been disputed, with proposed sources plainly consisting of self-annihilating dark matter and an undiscovered population of millisecond pulsars.
“When Fermi indicated the Galactic center, the outcomes were surprising,” stated Dr. Noam Libeskind, an astrophysicist at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam.
“The telescope determined a lot of gamma rays, the most energetic type of light in deep space.”
“Astronomers all over the world were puzzled, and contending theories began gathering to discuss the so-called gamma-ray excess.”
“After much dispute, 2 concepts increased to the fore: either these gamma rays were the outcome of millisecond pulsars (ultra-dense neutron stars that spin countless times per second) or from dark matter particles smashing into each other and annihilating. Both theories have their downsides.”
“However, our outcomes successfully validate the theory that the gamma-ray excess is because of dark matter annihilation.”
In their research study, Dr. Libeskind and associates designed the development of Milky Way-like galaxies under ecological conditions comparable to those of Earth’s cosmic community.
They discovered that dark matter does not radiate outwards from the Galactic center, however is rather arranged comparable to that of stars, suggesting the previous might simply as similarly have actually produced the excess gamma rays.
“The Milky Way galaxy has actually long been understood to reside in a so-called dark matter halo, a round area filled with dark matter around it,” stated Dr. Moorits Mihkel Muru, an astrophysicist at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam and the University of Tartu.
“However, the degree to which this halo is aspherical or ellipsoidal has actually not been valued.”
“We examined simulations of the Milky Way and its dark matter halo and discovered that the flattening of this area suffices to discuss the gamma ray excess as being because of dark matter particles self-annihilating.”
“These estimations show that the hunt for dark matter particles– that can self-annihilate– must be motivated and bring us one action more detailed to understanding of mystical nature of these particles.”
A paper on the findings was released this month in the journal Physical Review Letters
_____
Moorits Mihkel Muru et al2025. Fermi-LAT Galactic Center Excess Morphology of Dark Matter in Simulations of the Milky Way Galaxy. Phys. Rev. Lett 135, 161005; doi: 10.1103/ g9qz-h8wd
Find out more
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.