Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory Science Newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more.
CNN
–
Astronomers have helped track down some of the missing objects in the universe, using mystical high-speed radio bursts of radio waves from space, or a bright flash of milliseconds from space.
Dark matter and dark energy make up most of the universe. According to NASA, dark matter is the mysterious material that shapes the universe, and dark energy is the force that accelerates the expansion rate of the universe. Both are not possible to observe directly, but can be detected due to the gravity effect.
However, the rest of the universe is made of cosmic baryons or regular matter, found in small particles called protons and neutrons.
“These are the best ways to get to know the best,” said Liam Connor, assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard University.
Astronomers thought that most of the ordinary material in the universe was floating in intergalactic spaces known as intergalactic medium, but they were unable to measure this misty material within the intergalactic expansion halo (a vast spherical region containing stars and hot gases). That’s because normal material emits light at different wavelengths, but many of it is so diffused that it’s like trying to find mist, says astronomers.
The inability to detect about half of the normal material of a cosmos led to a decades of cosmological struggle called the Lost Baryon Problem.
Now, Connor and his colleagues have directly observed the missing items by using fast radio burst flashing to essentially map out what was not previously seen. They reported their findings in a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
“The Fed shines through the mist in intergalactic media. By measuring precisely how light slows down, it is impossible to see that fog. Much of the work of this research took place while Connor was a research assistant at California Institute of Technology.
Going along the road, astronomers believe that fast radio bursts can be used to illuminate the invisible structures of the universe.
Research authors have found that since its discovery in 2007, more than 1,000 high-speed radio bursts, or FRBs, have been detected since they were detected. Astronomers are still unsure of the exact cause behind the burst, but finding many of them could reveal their dark origins.
To illuminate the missing problems, the new analysis relied on previously observed mixing of high-speed radio bursts and bright flashes that were not observed until the study was underway.
The 69 high-speed radio bursts investigated in this study exist between 11.74 million light years and about 9.1 billion light years from Earth. The farthest one, named FRB 20230521B, is the current record holder of the furthest, fastest radio bursts discovered during research and observed to date.
The research team used a deep synoptic array, a network of 110 wireless telescopes, to find and identify 39 high-speed radio bursts in the study. Designed to bring fast radio bursts back to origin points, the telescope array is located at California’s Owens Valley Radio Observatory, near Bishop, California. The WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii near San Diego and the Palomar Observatory near San Diego helped measure high-speed radio bursts and the distance of the Earth. And 30 other high-speed radio bursts have been discovered by Australia Square Kilometer Array Pathfinders and other telescopes around the world.
When radio waves move as fast radio explodes towards Earth, the light can be measured at various wavelengths spreading. The extent to which the light spreads depends on how many problems there are in that path.
The team was able to measure how slow the high-speed radio burst signal would be as it passed through space before reaching Earth, illuminating the gas they encountered along the way.
The speed of a high-speed radio burst can be affected by what you move. For a long time, the red wavelength travels more slowly to reach the Earth, but the shorter and blue wavelengths arrive faster. Each wavelength allowed astronomers to measure invisible problems.
Connor said short pulses of high-speed radio bursts are essential for this measurement, as they act like a flashing beacon in space.
“You can measure very accurately how slow the radio pulse is at different wavelengths (called plasma dispersion), and this effectively counts all baryons,” Connor said. “For continuous shining stars and sources that are not on radio, this ‘dispersive’ effect cannot be measured. It must be impulsive, short and radio wavelengths. ”
The team was able to use the dispersion of light to map and measure material along the path of the high-speed radio burst.
“It’s like looking at the shadows of all the baryons with the Fed as a backlight,” said Vikram Rabbi, an assistant professor of astronomy in California, in a statement. “If you see people in front of you, you know a lot about them. But if you just look at their shadows, you know they’re there, and you know how big they are.”
After mapping all the fast radio bursts and the problems they passed and illuminated, the team determined that 76% of the space material existed as hot, low density gases in intergalactic space. Another 15% are in the galaxy halo, and the rest are in the galaxy as stars and planets within the galaxy Or cold gas.
According to the research authors, observation-based findings are consistent with previous predictions made using simulations. William H. Kinney, professor of physics at the University of Buffalo University of Arts and Sciences, agreed.
“So they came up with a new way of finding baryons we knew, but it was still an open question whether they really existed (intergalactic medium) rather than halos,” said Kinney, who was not involved in the research.
“The ‘barion problem’ decades ago was never about whether the problem existed or not,” Connor said. “It was always. Where is it? Now, thanks to FRBS, we know. Three quarters of that float between galaxies in the universe web.”
Understanding the distribution of normal matter can help researchers understand the growth and evolution of galaxies.
“Baryons are drawn into the galaxy by gravity, but super-large black holes and exploding stars can blow them off, as if the temperature is too high, cooling the thermostat in space,” Connor said. “Our results show that this feedback is efficient and that gas must be blown up from the galaxy into the intergalactic medium.”
Rabbi said high-speed radio bursts could also map the space web in detail. According to NASA, this structure, made primarily of dark matter, serves as the backbone of the universe.
Caltech is currently planning to build another radio telescope in the Nevada Desert. This can be built on the findings of new research by finding and tracking up to 10,000 high-speed radio bursts per year, Connor said.
“It’s a victory for modern astronomy,” the rabbi said. “Thanks to the Fed, the structure and composition of the universe are beginning to be seen in a whole new light. These short flashes can track the invisible problems filling the vast spaces between the galaxies.”