Clumps of dark matter could be lurking undetected in our galaxy
A hypothetical ‘dark’ force could allow clouds of invisible particles to collapse into small structures
Clumps of dark matter may be sailing through the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Typically thought to form featureless blobs surrounding entire galaxies, dark matter could also collapse into smaller clumps — similar to normal matter condensing into stars and planets — a new study proposes. Thousands of collapsed dark clumps could constitute 10 percent of the Milky Way’s dark matter, researchers from Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J., report in a paper accepted in Physical Review Letters.