NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — The discovery of a fast radio burst (FRB) that has traveled for approximately eight billion years towards Earth is a significant milestone in astrophysical research.
These elusive signals have proven invaluable in addressing one of the universe‘s great mysteries – the measurement of its mass.
Modern methods for estimating the mass of the universe have yielded conflicting results, and scientists have theorized that some of the unaccounted-for matter might exist in the vast voids between galaxies.
However, this matter is so rarefied that contemporary telescopes cannot detect it. Fast radio bursts have emerged as a solution to this challenge.
FRBs effectively serve as cosmic probes, interacting with the free electrons lingering from ionized gas in intergalactic space. By measuring the presence of these electrons, scientists can estimate the concentration of ordinary matter, thereby advancing our understanding of the universe’s composition.
A groundbreaking study published in the journal Nature in 2020 by Australian astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Macquart and colleagues unveiled a strong correlation between the dispersion measure of specific FRBs and the redshift of the galaxies that generated them.
This relationship revealed that the further away the galaxy, the more matter exists in the space between the source and Earth. These findings were based on observations of FRBs with redshifts below 0.5, and it was assumed that the correlation would hold true for more distant sources.
Recently, scientists detected an FRB originating from halfway across the known universe, labeled FRB 20220610A, and this event has validated the Macquart relationship. An international team of researchers, primarily led by Australian astronomers, pinpointed this FRB in June 2022 using data from the ASKAP radio interferometer.
Subsequent observations with the VLT telescope at Chile’s Paranal Observatory enabled the identification of the FRB’s source within a small group of merging galaxies.
This discovery holds immense significance, as it reaffirms the utility of FRBs in measuring the volume of matter in intergalactic space, often referred to as the universe’s “missing” matter. It essentially provides a novel method for “weighing” the universe and contributes to the ongoing quest for a comprehensive understanding of cosmic constituents.
In the realm of radio astronomy, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) observatory represents a beacon of hope.
This colossal radio interferometer, under construction in Western Australia and South Africa with plans to begin operations in 2027, promises to unlock even more ancient FRBs. With the SKA’s unprecedented capabilities, scientists anticipate uncovering new insights into the universe’s structure and composition, using FRBs as vital tools for exploration.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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