- Astronomers create the most detailed dark matter map of the universe
- The image offers support for Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
- The groundbreaking image was made using 14 billion-year-old light from the early stages of the universe
Astronomers have created a new image of a dark matter map of the universe that offers increased support for Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.
The groundbreaking new image was created using 14 billion-year-old light taken from the turbulent aftermath of the Big Bang, which is believed to be one of the possible origins of the universe and shows massive matter tendrils that formed in the early stages of the universe.
Astronomers Create New Dark Matter Map
The new image also contradicts previous dark matter maps suggesting the universe is a cosmic web, a massive network of crisscrossing celestial superhighways paved with hydrogen gas and dark matter.
The astronomers who created the new image presented their findings on Apr. 11 at the Future Science with CMB x LSS conference held at Japan's Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, as per Live Science.
In a statement, a cosmologist at the University of Pennsylvania, Mathew Madhavacheril, said that they made a new mess map using distortions of light that were left over from the Big Bang. He argued that the image remarkably provided measurements that highlighted both the "lumpiness" of the universe and the rate at which it grew even after billions of years.
Madhavacheril said that the findings were what experts would expect from the standard cosmology model based on Einstein's theory of gravity. Current theories suggest that the universe, following its creation by the Big Bang, was teeming with matter and antimatter particles. These are identical to their matter counterparts but possess opposing electrical charges.
Due to matter and antimatter causing each other's annihilation, if they collide, if there was an equal measure of both, all of the universe's matter should have been destroyed. But the rapidly expanding fabric of space-time and some other helpful quantum fluctuations have led scientists to believe that pockets of the universe's primordial plasma are intact.
Supporting Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
A professor of cosmology at the University of Cambridge, who leads the group responsible for the finding, said that they had mapped the invisible dark matter to the largest distances possible. He argued that they could observe hundreds of millions of light-years across space, according to Nano Werk.
The researchers used the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) to create a new image of the universe's dark matter. The image shows parts with more mass and regions with less or none.
The image also shows areas where contaminating light from dust in our Milky Way galaxy obscures a deeper view. The team took light from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and used it as a backlight to silhouette all the matter between us and the beginning of the universe.
Scientists believe that dark matter makes up 85% of the universe and can influence how the universe evolves and grows over time. However, detecting and subsequently researching this type of matter has proven difficult because it does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation, said the Independent.
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