Enigmatic Radio-Waves Near Milky-Way's Central Region May Hold Clues to Enduring Mystery

[n2doc]

Twenty years ago, astronomers discovered a number of enigmatic radio-emitting filaments concentrated near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. These features initially defied explanation, but a new study of radio images of the Galactic center may point to their possible source. These mysterious "filaments" of radio-wave emission may hold the ultimate proof of the existence of dark matter, researchers have said. A recent report suggests the filaments' emission arises from dark matter particles crashing into each other.

The filaments --regions of high magnetic fields that emit radio waves of high frequency--have been a mystery to astronomers since they were first discovered in the 1980s. The region within 900 light-years of the Milky Way Galaxy's core is crisscrossed with glowing filaments 1 to 3 light-years thick and 10 to 100 light-years long. They are a recent discovery, known only since the invention of modern radio and infrared telescopes that can "see" through the visually opaque dust clouds shrouding the galaxy core. The latest radio telescope probes of this region show that the filaments are associated with pockets of star-formation.

"There's a long literature about these objects, and there have been some ideas as to what might generate their emission - but frankly no one really knows," said Dan Hooper, an astrophysicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the US and co-author of the paper, which is under review by academics.

One explanation for this emission would be what is called synchrotron radiation, which arises when charged particles are accelerated in a magnetic field. There are several ideas that could account for the emission which do not invoke dark matter - so called "astrophysical" mechanisms.


http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/10/enigmatic-radio-waves-near-milky-ways-central-region-may-hold-clues-to-enduring-mystery.html