In February 2023, an underwater telescope called KM3NeT recorded the brightest particle track ever seen in the universe, carrying about 220 peta-electronvolts of energy. Initially thought to be an ultra-energetic neutrino, scientists are now exploring the possibility that it may be a sign of dark matter.
The discovery was made when a single flash of light raced through the instrument’s glass spheres, and computer checks confirmed its incredible energy level, dwarfing the beams at the Large Hadron Collider by almost one hundredfold. The event, nicknamed “impossible muon,” was thirty-five times brighter than any previous sighting.
However, researchers soon realized that another detector, IceCube, located in Antarctica, should have seen a similar signal due to its larger collection area and clearer view of the same part of the sky. Instead, IceCube remained quiet, sparking debate among scientists about whether the muon could be from something even stranger than a neutrino.
A new study proposes that the flash may be evidence of dark matter, an invisible form of matter that outweighs normal matter by a factor of five and has been difficult to detect directly. The researchers suggest that the beam of particles could have originated from a type of galaxy called a blazar, which contains a supermassive black hole.
The path of the February flash points back to a region of sky hosting several known blazars, supporting this theory. If true, dark matter would reveal itself indirectly through gravity and create collisions with atomic nuclei that can be detected by instruments like KM3NeT.
While some experts remain skeptical, others see the discovery as a promising new tool in the hunt for the universe’s missing mass. As both detectors continue to operate and gather data, the debate will likely continue until more evidence emerges or is ruled out. The study’s findings were reported on the preprint server arXiv.
Source: https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/a-massive-particle-blasted-through-earth-and-scientists-think-it-might-be-the-first-detection-of-dark-matter