Behind the Paper
The real stories behind the latest research papers, from conception to publication, the highs and the lows
Mysterious Gamma-Ray Excess Traces Stars
Using a newly developed tool, SkyFACT, which is a hybrid approach between template fitting and image reconstruction, we study the gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center. We find that the morphology of the so-called “Fermi-LAT Galactic Center Excess” is better described by the distribution of stars in the boxy bulge rather than the expected dark matter density squared. This supports the interpretation that this emission is due to millisecond pulsars instead of dark matter.
Discovery of topological negative refraction in a Weyl crystal
In our daily life, two fundamental wave phenomena, reflection and refraction, are naturally observed at an interface separating different homogenous media, which are interpreted by the well-known Snell’s law.
