A black hole in waiting (Image: NASA/SAF/Eurelios/SPL)

DARK matter may be prompting black holes to appear spontaneously in the hearts of distant exotic stars. If so, this could hint at the nature of dark matter.

Arnaud de Lavallaz and Malcolm Fairbairn of King’s College London wondered what would happen when dark matter – which makes up most of the mass of galaxies – is sucked into the heart of neutron stars. These stars, the remnants of supernova explosions, are the densest known stars in the universe. It turns out that the outcome depends on the nature of dark matter.

Most of the …