In a new study, astrophysicists have found a certain gamma-ray glow in the sky, known as unresolved gamma-ray background (yellow), to coincide with cosmic regions that contain a lot of matter (red). The correlation could lead to a better understanding of highly energetic astrophysical objects and dark matter. The gamma-ray map was created with nine years of data from the Fermi spacecraft, and the map showing the density of matter is based on one year of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES).

Credit: Daniel Gruen/SLAC/Stanford, Chihway Chang/University of Chicago, Alex Drlica-Wagner/Fermilab

 

"Matching up maps of matter and light from the Dark Energy Survey and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may help astrophysicists understand what causes a faint cosmic gamma-ray glow.

Astrophysicists have come a step closer to understanding the origin of a faint glow of gamma rays covering the night sky. They found that this light is brighter in regions that contain a lot of matter and dimmer where matter is sparser – a correlation that could help them narrow down the properties of exotic astrophysical objects and invisible dark matter.

The glow, known as unresolved gamma-ray background, stems from sources that are so faint and far away that researchers can’t identify them individually. Yet, the fact that the locations where these gamma rays originate match up with where mass is found in the distant universe could be a key puzzle piece in identifying those sources.

The background is the sum of a lot of things ‘out there’ that produce gamma rays. Having been able to measure for the first time its correlation with gravitational lensing – tiny distortions of images of far galaxies produced by the distribution of matter – helps us disentangle them,” said Simone Ammazzalorso from the University of Turin and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Italy, who co-led the analysis."

More information: https://scitechdaily.com/self-destruction-of-dark-matter-may-contribute-to-cosmic-gamma-ray-glow/