Physicists have shown that extremely light particles known as axions may occur in large clouds around neutron stars. These axions could form an explanation for the elusive dark matter that cosmologists search for -- and moreover, they might not be too difficult to observe.
Physicists show that neutron stars may be shrouded in clouds of 'axions' -- and that these clouds can teach us a lot
Putting one and one together, physicists have realized that the axion may be exactly what they are looking for to solve the dark matter problem. A particle that has not yet been observed, which would be extremely light, and have very weak interactions with other particles… could axions be at least part of the explanation for dark matter?The idea of the axion as a dark matter particle is nice, but in physics an idea is only truly nice if it has observable consequences.
Due to the axion's very feeble interactions, these particles will stay around, and on timescales up to millions of years they will accumulate around the neutron star. This can result in the formation of very dense clouds of axions around neutron stars, which provide some incredible new opportunities for axion research.
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