“`html
New Simulation Tool Advances Understanding of Self-Interacting Dark Matter
A new computational tool,KISS-SIDM, is enabling researchers to model the behavior of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. This breakthrough addresses a long-standing challenge in cosmology and opens new avenues for exploring the nature of dark matter and its role in the universe’s structure.
What is Self-Interacting Dark Matter?
Dark matter, which makes up approximately 85% of the matter in the universe, doesn’t interact with light, making it invisible to telescopes. While it doesn’t interact with ordinary matter (baryonic matter) through electromagnetic forces, SIDM proposes that dark matter particles can collide and interact with each other. These interactions are “elastic,” meaning they conserve energy. These collisions can considerably impact the formation and evolution of dark matter halos – the vast, gravitationally bound