Dark matter could keep tiny black holes alive inside stars: study
A new study suggests that dark matter particles trapped within dense stars like pulsars and white dwarfs could collapse into tiny black holes. These black holes could potentially consume the host star from the inside, providing a new theoretical model for stellar evolution.
Why it matters
This research offers a novel explanation for the behavior of dark matter and its potential impact on the life cycles of the universe's densest objects.
Dark matter, the unseen substance that makes up most of the universe’s matter, could play a more dramatic role than previously thought.
A new study suggests that heavy dark matter particles trapped inside a dense star could accumulate at its core, collapse into a tiny black hole roughly the mass of a loaded semi-truck and gradually transform the entire star into a black hole.
The authors of the study, published in the latest issue of the Physical Review D , are H.A. Adarsha and Chandrachur Chakraborty of the Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, and Sudip Bhattacharyya of Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
Their study focuses on two extremely dense types of stellar objects — millisecond pulsars and white dwarfs.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in