New findings in dark matter physics could prompt brand-new model of the 'real' universe

The discovery, some experts think, might ‘signal a gap’ in the current understanding of dark matter and its properties. Now, a new study, based on observations of distant galaxy clusters seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope in Chile has revealed that dark matter behaves a bit differently than what is predicted by simulations, indicating that our understanding of dark matter may need revision. According to a report by Yale News, research by Yale astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan and a team of international researchers from analysis of Hubble Space Telescope images of massive galaxy clusters, smaller dollops of dark matter associated with cluster galaxies were significantly more concentrated than earlier thought. Senior author of the study Natarajan said that there is a feature of the real universe that one cannot simply capture in current theoretical models, adding that the discovery could “signal a gap” in the current understanding of the nature of dark matter and its properties. The high quality of the images allowed the researchers to test whether these dark matter landscapes matched theory-based computer simulations of galaxy clusters with similar masses, located at roughly the same distances.