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

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Could Dark Matter Be Hiding Inside Strange Quark Stars? New Research May Have Solved a Cosmic Mystery

The universe is full of strange and mysterious objects, but few are as fascinating as strange quark stars. These stars are believed to be even denser than neutron stars and may contain a completely different form of matter. Now, a new study suggests that these unusual stars could also contain dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the matter in the universe.

The research shows that dark matter may change the size, mass, and behavior of strange quark stars in surprising ways. Even more exciting, these stars could explain several mysterious objects that astronomers have discovered in recent years. If the findings are confirmed, they could change our understanding of compact stars and even reveal new clues about dark matter.

What Is a Strange Quark Star?

When a very massive star runs out of fuel, it explodes as a supernova. The leftover core usually becomes a neutron star, one of the densest objects in the universe.

But scientists believe that if the pressure inside a neutron star becomes even greater, the neutrons may break apart into tiny particles called quarks. These quarks could then form an entirely new type of star known as a strange quark star.

Unlike ordinary matter, strange quark stars are made of three types of quarks: up, down, and strange quarks. Because of this unusual composition, they are expected to have different properties than neutron stars.

In this study, researchers focused on a special state of quark matter called the color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase. In this phase, quarks pair together in a highly organized way, making the matter more stable and allowing the star to support greater weight.

The Role of Dark Matter

Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in modern science. Scientists cannot see it because it does not produce or reflect light. However, they know it exists because its gravity affects galaxies, stars, and the expansion of the universe.

Although dark matter makes up about 85% of all matter in the universe, no one knows exactly what it is made of.

The researchers wanted to know what would happen if strange quark stars contained dark matter. To study this, they used a two-fluid model.

In this model, the strange quark matter and dark matter do not mix together. Instead, they exist as two separate fluids inside the same star and interact mainly through gravity.

The dark matter was assumed to be made of tiny particles that form a Bose-Einstein condensate, an unusual state in which many particles behave like a single quantum object.

Building a More Accurate Model

To make their calculations realistic, the researchers used the latest theory of the strong nuclear force, known as Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). They included updated values for the strong force and the strange quark mass instead of using fixed numbers as many earlier studies did.

They also tested different situations by changing three important factors.

The first was the mass of the dark matter particles.

The second was the amount of dark matter inside the star. They considered dark matter contributing 5% and 10% of the pressure at the center of the star.

The third was the pairing gap, represented by the symbol Δ (Delta). This value measures how strongly the quarks pair together. The researchers studied three values: 150, 175, and 200 MeV.

Larger pairing gaps make the matter stiffer, allowing the star to support more mass before collapsing.

Dark Matter Changes the Star

The study found that dark matter has a major effect on strange quark stars.

One of the most important properties of a compact star is its maximum mass. This is the largest mass a star can have before gravity causes it to collapse into a black hole.

The researchers discovered that this maximum mass does not simply increase or decrease as more dark matter is added.

Instead, the relationship is much more complicated.

As the dark matter particle became heavier, the maximum mass first changed in one direction, reached a critical point, and then started decreasing.

This means there is a critical dark matter mass where the behavior of the star changes completely.

This surprising result shows that dark matter affects strange quark stars in ways scientists had not fully understood before.

Solving the Mass Gap Mystery

Astronomers have long been puzzled by the lower mass gap, which lies between about 2.5 and 5 times the mass of the Sun.

Most known neutron stars have masses below this range, while black holes are usually heavier.

For many years, very few objects were found in between.

However, recent observations have revealed several compact objects that seem to fall inside this mysterious mass gap.

The new study suggests that some of these objects could actually be strange quark stars mixed with dark matter.

The researchers found that their models could successfully explain several massive compact objects, including:

  • PSR J0952–0607, with a mass of about 2.35 times the Sun

  • PSR J0740+6620, about 2.08 solar masses

  • PSR J1748–2021B, estimated at 2.74 solar masses

  • The mysterious secondary object detected during the GW190814 gravitational-wave event, with a mass of about 2.59 solar masses

These objects are difficult to explain using traditional neutron star models.

Dark matter mixed with strange quark matter may provide a natural explanation.

Comparing with Gravitational Waves

The researchers also checked whether their models agree with observations from gravitational waves.

In 2017, astronomers observed the famous GW170817 event, where two neutron stars collided.

This event allowed scientists to measure a property called tidal deformability. It describes how easily a star changes shape because of the gravity of another nearby star.

A larger star usually has a higher tidal deformability.

Some models of pure strange quark stars predicted stars that were too large, making them difficult to match the GW170817 observations.

However, adding dark matter changed the situation.

The dark matter formed an outer halo around the star. This changed the effective size of the object and significantly reduced its tidal deformability.

As a result, many strange quark stars containing dark matter became much more consistent with the gravitational-wave observations.

The researchers point out that the GW170817 limits were originally calculated for ordinary single-fluid stars. Since their stars contain two different fluids, these observational limits should be treated as helpful guidance rather than strict rules.

Better Than Previous Models

Earlier studies had also suggested that the mysterious object seen in GW190814 might be a strange quark star.

However, the new research improves on those models in several ways.

Instead of using simplified descriptions of quark matter, the researchers included the latest Quantum Chromodynamics calculations with updated physical values.

They also tested whether their models matched the tidal deformability measurements from gravitational waves.

This makes the new study more complete and realistic than many previous investigations.

What Does This Mean?

One of the most interesting conclusions is that different types of compact stars may look almost identical from the outside.

A neutron star, a strange quark star, or a strange quark star containing dark matter could all have similar masses and sizes.

This makes it difficult to identify exactly what these objects are using current observations alone.

Because of this, the researchers believe future studies should consider two-fluid models, where dark matter and ordinary matter exist together.

Ignoring dark matter could lead scientists to misunderstand what these mysterious compact objects really are.

The Future of This Research

Although more observations are needed, this study opens an exciting new possibility.

Instead of being empty regions, parts of the lower mass gap may actually be filled with strange quark stars containing dark matter.

Future gravitational-wave detectors, more accurate space telescopes, and improved computer models will help scientists test this idea.

If these exotic stars are confirmed, they could provide valuable clues about two of the greatest mysteries in modern physics: the true nature of dark matter and the behavior of matter under the most extreme conditions in the universe.

The study shows that dark matter may not only shape galaxies—it may also hide deep inside some of the universe's most extraordinary stars, waiting to reveal secrets that scientists have been searching for for decades.

Reference: JJ. Sedaghat, G.H. Bordbar, M. Haghighat, S.M. Zebarjad, "Two-fluid CFL strange quark stars with scalar dark matter: Critical mass and mass gap implications", Nuclear Physics B, Volume 1029, 2026, 117576, ISSN 0550-3213, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2026.117576. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0550321326002804)

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