If dark matter is capable of creating larger structures it should sometimes hit stars. And create eruptions. And maybe we could detect dark matter with them.
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@kralizec and subscribe to my Youtube channel at Kralizec Gaming Youtube ChannelThe search for dark matter continues. This time, scientists are searching for it in stellar eruptions. If dark matter can make larger structures perhaps asteroid-sized dark matter objects could fly through the Universe. While we have close to no chance of detecting them directly we do have a chance when they collide with a star like our Sun.
According to what we know about the Universe and physics these dark matter planets would zip through the Universe at high speeds. Anirban Das from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from California is betting on it. He and his colleagues think a dark asteroid could fly through the insides of a star at supersonic speeds creating an acoustic shockwave. The star is less dense than the asteroid in this case and would work as an acoustic lens. Because of this the shockwave wouldn’t spread and power up in the place where the star was hit and when reaching the surface of the star it would only speed up.
These processes would be enough to create a get of x-ray and UV radiation that should also reach into the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. That’s something we should definitely be able to see. The researchers estimated the density of dark matter in the star cluster 47 Tuc and calculated that if the Hubble telescope observed it for a week it could detect such a flash. So, they analyzed previous observations of the star cluster. Sadly, they found nothing. But the chances weren’t great to start with.
Future UV telescopes should be more promising though. The scientists suggest we focus on nearby K-class orange dwarfs. If the dark asteroids exist and behave as Das things future UV telescopes should be able to detect them. And even our own Sun could be hit by these dark asteroids. About once per year. And these would cause solar eruptions
Sadly, it does have a catch. The effects of these dark solar eruptions would be also exactly the same as regular solar eruptions. The only difference would lie in how the spectrum of the eruption changes from the x-ray into UV, visible, and IR parts of the EM spectrum.
That means just observing eruptions isn’t enough. We would need to aim a number of powerful devices right after we detect an eruption and research the radiation in a large part of the EM spectrum for a long time. It is possible, but our chances aren’t great.
