In the center of the Milky Way, there may not be a supermassive black hole, but a ball of dark matter

So according to the most widespread theory, in the center of our galaxy with you - the Milky Way there is a supermassive black hole (known as Sagittarius A * Sgr A *). But it is likely that the heart of our galaxy is of a completely different nature.

So new scientific research suggests that, quite likely, in the center of the galaxy is a dense core of dark matter, which consists of hypothetical particles called "darkinos".

At the center of the Milky Way is a massive, compact object known as Sagittarius A * (the bright spot to the right of the center of the image). X-ray: NASA / CXC / Nanjing Univ./P. Zhou et al. Radio: NSF / NRAO / VLA

Heart of the Milky Way

As you know, the Milky Way is held by simply a colossal mass in its central part, which is equal to about 4 million Suns. This incredible object is called Sagittarius A * and scientists cannot yet see it directly, but about its existence and behavior scientists are quite capable of judging by observing the behavior of stars located in relative proximity.

And so far, the most logical explanation for the nature of Sagittarius A * has been that it is a supermassive black hole. But literally seven years ago, seeds of doubt were sown in this theory. After all, a gas cloud called G2 was found, which revolves around Sgr A *.

In 2014, this cloud was supposed to fly dangerously close to Sgr A * and observers assumed that the G2 cloud would literally be torn to shreds by the gravitational force of Sgr A *.

But surprisingly, the G2 survived the dangerous rapprochement without any visible problems. This fact led scientists to suggest that G2 is not a cloud at all. A dusty star with enough gravity to hold its shape. But in a new scientific work, scientists questioned not the nature of G2, but Sgr A * itself.

New research and new theory

Scientific group from the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (ICRA Italy) performed a modulation in which they tried to figure out what would happen if a supermassive black hole was replaced with a dense ball of dark matter.

So here are the scientists ICRA found that if dark matter has certain properties, then it explains quite accurately a number of observations and in some moments even better than the model with a black hole.

According to simulations, dark matter will presumably consist of darkinos - ultra-light neutral particles that belong to the fermion group. And scientists have suggested that darkinos grouped in the center of the galaxy, and then spread into a more diffuse cloud.

So the key parameter of fermions is that only one of them can occupy a certain quantum state at a particular time in a given space, and this fact limits their close packing.

And thus, it turns out that the nucleus of such a ball of fermions is not such an extreme environment, by compared to a supermassive black hole, and it was this fact that allowed G2 to pass by intact and safety.

Also, scientists managed to find out that if the particles darkinos have a mass of 56 keV, the simulation accurately predicted the trajectories of clusters of nearby stars (the so-called S-stars), as well as the rotation curve of the outer halo of the Milky Way.

As attractive as the new theory with a ball of dark matter in the center of our galaxy looks, it is too early to rewrite textbooks. Since the theory with a black hole is still relatively simple to explain well-observed physical processes. But research in this direction continues, and what will be discovered in the future remains a big mystery.

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