(ORDO NEWS) — Perhaps astronomers have discovered not many planetary systems like our solar system. However, they seem to have one thing in common: they seem to be formed from ordinary baryonic matter (consisting of neutrons, protons, and electrons).
But what if there are planets made of other material? What if there are planets made up of a mysterious substance we call dark matter ?
A team of scientists led by theoretical physicist Yang Bai of the University of Wisconsin-Madison wanted to find out how these hypothetical planets would manifest – and if we could detect them, if they exist.
If certain conditions are met, then this is possible, as stated by the researchers, setting out their thoughts in an article published on the arXiv preprint server.
There are many outstanding mysteries in our universe, but one of the biggest is dark matter. We don’t know what dark matter is, and we don’t know what it looks like or what it’s made of.
The only thing we know for sure is that the gravity in the universe far outweighs the amount of baryonic matter.
Once you account for every galaxy, every star, and every dust cloud, gravity will still be much more than it should be.
We don’t know what’s behind this, but we call this mysterious source dark matter, and there are several theoretical candidates that scientists are investigating.
In general, these candidates can be divided into two categories: individual particles and constituents, including macroscopic clumps of dark matter, or macros that can have masses on a planetary scale.
And, as Bai and colleagues explain, “A macroscopic state of dark matter with a mass and/or radius similar to that of a planet would behave like a dark exoplanet if confined to a star system, even if the object’s underlying physics, totally reminiscent of something else.”
Our current methods for detecting exoplanets are often based on the influence of an exoplanet on the light of its host star. We can also use this information to measure the properties of the exoplanet.
An exoplanet passing between us and its star will cause the star’s light to dim slightly. Astronomers can measure the depth of the obscuration to calculate the exoplanet’s radius.
Exoplanets also cause their stars to move slightly as they move around their mutual center of gravity, which can be detected by changes in the wavelength of the star’s light.
The amount of motion, called radial velocity, can be used to calculate the mass of an exoplanet.
With these measurements in hand, we can calculate the density of an exoplanet and thus determine how it works. Low density, like Jupiter, implies a huge low density atmosphere.
Higher density, similar to that of the Earth, implies a rocky composition. As a rule, the former have a larger radius, while the latter have a smaller one.
This could be used to detect potential dark matter exoplanets, Bai and his colleagues say. A dark matter exoplanet may have properties that are different from ordinary exoplanets.
They contradict our current understanding of planetary formation. For example, you may find an exoplanet denser than iron, for example, or with such a low density that its existence cannot be explained.
Currently, such emissions have not been detected, but scientists do not exclude such a possibility.
“Further studies of early dark matter exoplanets the formation of star systems and the capture of dark matter exoplanets would help clarify the possibility of detecting dark matter exoplanets, and it would be necessary to set boundaries for the abundance of dark matter exoplanets if they are not detected,” the researchers conclude.
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