Scientists have released one of the most accurate maps of matter in the universe ever made, featuring precise measurements of its distribution throughout the universe.
One of the surprising things this map reveals is that matter is not as ‘massive’ as the best current models of the Universe suggest. This means that there may be something missing in the standard cosmological model.
By helping reveal how matter in the very early universe was hurled outwards before it formed galaxy, Performer A new map could help scientists better understand how the universe evolved.
Following the creation and rapid expansion of matter, big bang About 13.8 billion years ago, expanded universe And the problem spread outward. This material, mainly in the form of hydrogen and helium, cooled, leading to the formation of the first stars, and subsequently synthesized heavier elements.
By tracing the outward spread of this primordial matter and examining its distribution today, scientists can rewind time and recreate the early days of the universe. However, to do this requires a huge amount of astronomical data.
For the new map, the team used data collected by the Chilean Dark Energy Survey and the Antarctic Telescope. This combination of observations allowed the team to ensure that errors in one set of measurements did not compromise the overall results.
“It acts like a cross-check, so it’s a much more robust measurement than using either one alone,” said Chihway, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and co-lead author of the study. Mr Chang said. statement.
dark matter too
Both the Dark Energy Survey and the Antarctic Telescope, which surveyed the skies from 2013 to 2019, gravitational lens effectMass causes space-time to distort, so when light passes from a background object through a massive foreground object, this light path is bent. In some cases, this allows foreground objects to act as natural lenses, amplifying light from background objects. The greater the mass, the greater the space-time curve, and the more extreme the effect on light. In other words, massive galaxies in our line of sight form a wonderful gravitational lens.
Gravitational lensing is good for tracking the normal, everyday matter that makes up stars and planets, but this technique is also great at tracking. dark matter, a mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of the mass of the universe. Dark matter is invisible because it does not interact with light, but because it does, its existence can be inferred by gravitational lensing. gravity.
The study’s authors say they used two data sets to locate matter in space more accurately than previous attempts.
While most of the results are consistent with current theories of cosmic evolution, there were some interesting quirks. This was also found in previous analysis attempts.
Eric Baxter, an astrophysicist at the University of Hawaii and a member of the research team, said, “Variations in the present-day universe are predicted assuming our standard cosmological model is anchored in the early universe. It seems to be slightly less than statement.
This result suggests that the universe is less ‘massive’ than previous models of the universe have found, and that it is clustered in specific regions.
This could indicate something is missing in our model of the universe. However, more research and mapping projects are needed to shed light on the disparities to solidify this idea.
The current project is important because it combines two very different data sources to obtain useful information, and may demonstrate similar collaborations in the future as more and more powerful observatories come online. .
“I think this exercise demonstrated both the challenges and benefits of doing this kind of analysis,” says Chang. “When you combine different angles of looking at the universe, you can do a lot of new things.”
The team’s research was published Tuesday (January 31) in Physical Review D as three separate studies.
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