Scientists Find Universe’s Missing Matter in Intergalactic ‘Cosmic Fog’
Scientists find the missing material of the universe in the intergalactic “cosmic fog”
Researchers used cosmic explosions called rapid gusts to light the intergalactic environment
Astronomers have long had trouble seeing and studying gas and dust diluted between galaxies, represented in the concept of this artist as blue and purple filaments in a large “cosmic web”.
Mark Garlick / Science Photo Library / Getty Images
Half of the ordinary matter of the universe has been missing – so far.
Astronomers have used mysterious but powerful energy explosions called rapid radio (FRB) to detect the missing “normal” material of the universe for the first time.
This missing thing is not a dark matter, the mysterious substance which represents about 85% of the material universe but remains invisible because it does not interact with light. Instead, it is an ordinary question in atoms (composed of baritum) that do Interact with the light but so far it has been too dark to see.
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Although this puzzle cannot be completely attracted as much as the enigma of dark matter – at least we knew what this missing material is, while the nature of dark matter is unknown – but its Awol status was a frustrating problem in cosmology. The problem of missing baronic material has persisted because it spreads incredibly finely through halos that surround the galaxies and in diffuse clouds that derive in space between the galaxies.
Now, a team of astronomers has discovered and explained this missing daily material using FRBS to shed light on the vaporous structures that were between us and the sources far from these brief but powerful gusts of radio waves.
“The FRB shine through the fog of the intergalactic environment, and by precisely measuring the way in which light slows down, we can weigh this fog, even when it is too weak to see,” said study team leader Liam Connor, researcher at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian (CFA), in a press release.
How the FRB illuminate the missing material
FRBs are radio wave pulses which often only last a few milliseconds, but in this short time, they can emit as much energy as the sun radiates in 30 years. Their origins remain something of a mystery. Indeed
However, for a while, their potential to help “weigh” the question between galaxies was obvious for astronomers. Although thousands of FRB were discovered, not all were suitable for this purpose. Indeed, to act as a gauge of the question between the FRB and the earth, the bursting of energy must have a point of localized origin with a known distance from our planet. Until now, astronomers have not managed to carry out this location only for around 100 FRB.
Connor and his colleagues, including the assistant professor of California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Vikram Ravi, used 69 FRB of sources at distances between 11.7 million at around 9.1 billion light years. The FRB of this maximum distance, FRB 20230521B, is the most distant FRB source ever discovered.
The concept of this disarmament shows the light of a rapid radio in its journey through the intergalactic medium. Long wavelengths, shown in red, are slowed down compared to shorter shorter wavelengths, allowing astronomers to “weigh” the ordinary material otherwise invisible.
Of the 69 FRBs used by the team, 39 were discovered by a network of 110 radio-telescopes located at the Caltech radio observatory (OVRO) called the deep synoptic table (DSA). The DSA was built with the specific mission of identifying and locating the FRB in their domestic galaxies.
Once this is done, instruments from the WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Palomar Observatory near San Diego were used the measurement of the distance between the earth and these Galaxies Frb-Source.
Many remaining FRBs have been discovered by the Australian Australian Square Kilometer (Askap) (Askap), a network of Radiotelescopes in Western Australia which has excelled in the detection and location of FRB since its entry according to operations.
As the FRB pass through the matter, the light that includes them is divided into different wavelengths. This is like what happens when sunlight passes through a prism and creates a rainbow diffraction scheme.
The angle of the separation of these different wavelengths can be used to determine the amount of matter in the clouds or the structures that the FRB cross.
“It is as if we see the shadow of all the bars, with frbs as a backlight,” said Ravi. “If you see a person in front of you, you can know a lot about them. But if you just see their shadow, you always know that they are there and almost their size.”
The results of the team allowed them to determine that around 76% of the normal material of the universe is hidden in space between the galaxies, known as the intergalactic environment. They found that an additional 15% was locked in the vast diffuse halos around the galaxies. The remaining 9% seem to be concentrated in the galaxies, taking the shape of the stars and cold galactic gas.
The distribution calculated by the team is in accordance with the predictions delivered by advanced simulations of the universe and its evolution, but it represents the first proof of observation of this.
The results of the team could lead to a better understanding of the growth of galaxies. For delighted, however, this is only the first step towards that FRB become a vital tool in cosmology, helping our understanding of the universe.
The next step in this development may well be the planned radiotelescope of Caltech, DSA-2000. This radio table, which should be built in the Nevada desert, could locate and locate up to 10,000 FRB each year.
This should both stimulate our understanding of these powerful explosions of radio waves and increase their usefulness as probes on the content of the Baryonic matter of the universe.
The team’s research was published Monday June 16 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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