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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Is Dark Matter Slowly Disappearing?

For many years, scientists have believed that dark matter is one of the most important parts of our universe. It cannot be seen directly because it does not produce or reflect light, but its gravity affects galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the way the entire universe is structured. Without dark matter, galaxies would not have formed in the way we observe today.

But scientists are now exploring a fascinating possibility: what if dark matter is not completely stable? What if some dark matter particles are slowly breaking down into other particles over billions of years? If this is happening, the amount of matter in the universe today would be slightly different from what existed in the early universe.

Finding evidence for this process could completely change our understanding of the cosmos.

The main measurement scientists use to study this idea is called the matter density parameter, written as Ωm. It tells us how much matter exists in the universe compared with the total amount needed to describe the universe’s structure.

Scientists have a very accurate measurement of Ωm from the early universe. This information comes from studying the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) — the oldest light in the universe that was created shortly after the Big Bang. When scientists observe this ancient light, they can understand the amount of matter that existed when the universe was only about 380,000 years old.

Measurements from missions such as the Planck mission show that the early universe contained a very precise amount of matter. The value of Ωm during that time is estimated to be around 0.315, with very small uncertainty.

However, measuring the amount of matter in today’s universe is much more difficult.

The modern universe is far more complicated. Matter is spread across billions of galaxies, huge clouds of gas, galaxy clusters, and invisible dark matter structures. Scientists must carefully measure all these components to know the total amount of matter that exists today.

The problem is that some matter is extremely difficult to detect.

One major challenge is the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). Scientists believe that a large amount of normal matter exists as extremely hot, thin gas between galaxies. This gas does not shine brightly, making it very difficult to observe. If scientists miss some of this hidden material, the estimated amount of matter in the universe today could appear lower than it actually is.

Another challenge is understanding dark matter itself. Dark matter forms large invisible structures called halos around galaxies. These halos control how galaxies move and grow. However, measuring the exact size and shape of these halos, especially around smaller galaxies, is still a difficult task.

Because of these uncertainties, scientists have not yet found clear proof that dark matter is disappearing.

Some observations suggest that the amount of matter in the present universe may be slightly lower than expected compared with the early universe. This could support the idea of dark matter decay. But scientists also know that measurement errors and missing matter could create the same effect.

To prove that dark matter is decaying, researchers would need to find a clear difference between the early and modern universe and show that this difference cannot be explained by normal measurement problems.

There is another important question: if dark matter is disappearing, where does the lost matter go?

According to physics, particles cannot simply vanish. If dark matter particles decay, they should transform into other particles or release energy. These changes could create signals that scientists can detect.

For example, dark matter decay could produce high-energy particles such as cosmic rays or gamma rays. Scientists have studied the diffuse gamma-ray background and cosmic radiation to search for these signals. So far, these observations have placed strong limits on how quickly dark matter could decay.

Scientists have also studied how dark matter decay could affect the history of the universe, including a period called reionization, when the first stars and galaxies changed the state of hydrogen throughout space.

So far, no strong evidence has confirmed that dark matter is slowly breaking apart. Many possible decay processes have already been ruled out because they would create more radiation than we actually observe.

However, the search is far from over.

The coming decade could bring major breakthroughs in understanding the true nature of dark matter. New astronomical technologies will allow scientists to create much more accurate maps of matter in the universe.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will help scientists study hydrogen gas across enormous distances and create detailed maps of galaxies and matter distribution. This will improve our understanding of how much normal matter exists in different parts of the universe.

Scientists are also looking forward to better measurements from fast radio bursts (FRBs). These powerful radio signals travel across the universe, and the way they are affected by gas between galaxies can reveal the amount of hidden matter in space.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will also play an important role. By repeatedly scanning the sky, it will study millions of galaxies and help scientists understand how dark matter is distributed through gravitational effects.

Another powerful method is weak gravitational lensing. This technique studies how the gravity of invisible matter bends light from distant galaxies. By measuring this bending, scientists can create maps of dark matter without directly seeing it.

Future X-ray space missions will also help detect hot gas in galaxy clusters and improve our understanding of missing matter.

If future observations confirm that Ωm has decreased over time, it would be one of the biggest discoveries in modern physics. It would mean that dark matter is not a permanent substance but something that changes over the lifetime of the universe.

Such a discovery would challenge the current standard model of cosmology and could reveal new physics beyond what scientists currently understand.

However, researchers remain careful. The current evidence is still uncertain, and more accurate measurements are needed before reaching a final conclusion.

The mystery of dark matter remains one of the biggest unanswered questions in science. Whether it is slowly disappearing or simply hiding in places we have not yet measured, future observations will help reveal the true story of this invisible substance that shapes the universe.

The next generation of telescopes may finally answer a remarkable question: Is dark matter an eternal part of the cosmos, or is the universe slowly losing it over time?

Reference: Jeremy Mould, "Is dark matter decaying ?", JCAP, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19837

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