A new discovery has deepened the mystery of the universe.
After 40 hours of detailed observation and analysis, there was no trace of the mysterious stuff in the AGC 114905.
The result will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and available on preprint server arXiv, which bolsters the case for galaxies mysteriously lacking in dark matter, even though it's vital for our models of galactic evolution.
"This is what we thought and hoped for, and it confirms our previous measurements," said astronomer Pavel Mancera Pia of the University of Groningen.
The problem is that the theory predicts dark matter in AGC 114905, but we don't see it. The difference between theory and observation is getting bigger.
One of the biggest mysteries of the Universe is dark matter. We don't know what it is because we can't see it, but we know that there's some mass out there causing a range of effects in the Universe that can't be explained by normal matter alone.
Stars have a higher velocities than normal matter can explain. The path of light bends as it travels through space.
Astronomers believe that dark matter is involved in the creation of the universe. There is an invisible dark matter web that helps normal matter come together into galaxies. According to our models, dark matter helps the galaxies stay together.
Astronomers have been finding hints of galaxies without dark matter in recent years, contrary to how we believe the Universe exists. Mancera Pia and his colleagues decided to take a closer look at the six galaxies they found.
AGC 114905 is an ultra diffuse dwarf galaxy. It's about the size of the Milky Way, but much, much less bright, with around a thousand fewer stars. They have so little normal matter that they should be held together by dark matter.
The researchers took a closer look at AGC 114905 using the Very Large Array in New Mexico and obtained a total of 40 hours of observation data. The rotation curve of the galaxy was plotted against their distance from the center.
Adding dark matter can explain objects that are too fast, and the amount of dark matter can affect the additional orbital velocity.
The rotation curve of AGC 114905 doesn't require dark matter. The amount of normal matter alone can explain it. The amount of dark matter appears to be insignificant.
There are no explanations for the lack of dark matter. If a nearby massive galaxy stripped AGC 114905 of its dark matter, it would be an explanation.
Mancera Pia said there were no. Extreme parameters would have to be introduced in the cold dark matter model in the most reputed galaxy formation framework. We can't reproduce the motions of the gas within the galaxy with modifiedNewtonian dynamics.
It is possible that we have simply underestimated the distances in other galaxies with abnormal amounts of dark matter. The researchers said that the distance to AGC 114905 is well constrained.
Researchers concede that it's possible that the estimated observation angle could be off. They said it would have to be off by a huge margin.
All of the six galaxies from their initial studies all showed the same behavior. They said this suggests that the behavior is not the result of a systematic error. They are trying to get to the bottom of a second ultra-diffuse galaxy.
Their findings could have implications for our understanding of the universe.
The nature and startling dynamics of gas-rich ultra-diffuse galaxies have been strengthened and clarified. The researchers wrote in their paper that the origin and precise evolutionary pathways remain a mystery.
The present work shows that gas-rich ultra-diffuse galaxies are a promising population to study dark matter, as they can provide telltale clues to understand its nature.
The research is available on arXiv and will be in the monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
