Physicists claim they've found hard evidence to prove the existence of dark matter, the material that holds the universe together.

Decades ago, astronomers acknowledged the presence of dark matter, saying it accounts for almost a fourth of the total matter in the universe. Dark matter keeps matter together.

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In contrast, the stars, planets, galaxies and all other physical objects comprise only about four percent of the total matter in the universe.

The dark matter theory was developed by scientists in an attempt to further understand how galaxies rotate and move. Dark matter doesn't emit light or any type of electromagnetic radiation, making it a challenge to detect its existence. 

Astrophysicists from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology (LPPC) have analyzed X-rays originating from the Andromeda and Perseus cluster galaxies.

Using the orbiting XMM-Newton telescope managed by the European Space Agency, the researchers removed all signals from known particles of the X-rays. One signal, however, remained unknown and this signal interacted with ordinary matter.

This unknown signal isolated from the X-rays corresponds exactly with the galaxies' motions, which are concentrations of intense signals located in the core of the objects that fade out or diffuse from the edges, according to Oleg Ruchayskiy from the EPFL.

This signal is manifested through a rare process where a photon and the destruction of a sterile neutrino interact with each other via gravity. Scientists consider them so elusive that they're dubbed the "ghost of a ghost".

If this theory is proven correct, it will mean the universe actually holds four times as much dark matter as opposed to ordinary, visible matter.

This discovery may lead to developing new telescope technology able to study and examine further the signals emitted by dark matter particles, according to Alexey Boyarsky of Leiden University. Doing so will allow scientists to reconstruct how the universe was formed.

This study will be published in the next issue of the journal, Physical Review Letters.

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