The most brilliant cosmic explosion in history conceals a dark matter particle, revealing exciting discoveries made by scientists.

In October 2022, astronomers identified the most powerful cosmic explosion in history. They discovered the brightest gamma-ray burst, which is a release of gamma radiation, among all known similar events. Later, astronomers determined that the gamma-ray burst named GRB 221009A resulted from a supernova explosion located 2.4 billion light-years away from us. The authors of a new study published on the arXiv preprint server believe that the extremely bright gamma radiation was visible due to its interaction with elusive dark matter particles known as axions, writes ScienceAlert.

When a massive star died and exploded as a supernova, it produced the brightest gamma-ray flash known to date. This was a record-breaking cosmic explosion, as the gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A erupted with energies reaching up to 18 teraelectronvolts. However, astronomers cannot observe photons of such radiation with energies exceeding 10 teraelectronvolts, according to the study's authors.

Considering the vast distance of 2.4 billion light-years, photons of gamma radiation with such high energy would have been absorbed during interactions with other very powerful photons in the extragalactic background light that exists between galaxies.

The authors of the study believe that the detection of such a powerful light burst was made possible due to the presence of particles called axions, which are prime candidates for dark matter. Scientists think that the brightest gamma-ray burst became visible through the interaction of photons from this radiation with axions in the presence of external magnetic fields.

Dark matter remains one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. If we consider all visible objects with mass in the universe, they account for only a small fraction of all gravity. The remaining gravity, scientists believe, is generated by invisible dark matter, which constitutes about 85% of the universe's mass.

Currently, many scientists believe that dark matter is composed of hypothetical axion particles. Theories suggest that these particles behave somewhat like neutrinos, meaning they interact poorly with ordinary matter. Neutrinos can pass through nearly any object in the universe.

The authors of the study state that the brightest cosmic explosion in history serves as an excellent laboratory for detecting axions. High-energy gamma photons traveling over vast distances should interact with extragalactic background light so intensely that it prevents these photons from reaching Earth. However, scientists' calculations indicate that the interaction between photons and axions should make intergalactic space more transparent to high-energy light. Therefore, scientists believe that the detection of photons with energies up to 18 teraelectronvolts is indirect evidence of the existence of axions.

The conclusions of this study still require validation, and scientists intend to continue their work in this area.