In breaking
news that could potentially break cosmology as we know it, a team of astronomers says it’s
discovered a “giant arc” of galaxies stretching more than 3 billion light-years
across. But while galaxy clusters are commonplace, this one seems to violate
the cosmological principle; or the notion that matter is spread across space
homogeneously. If the arc of galaxies turns out to be real, however, it could
upend our understanding of the universe.
Science News reported on the discovery, which the team of astronomers announced at a recent
press conference. Alexia Lopez, a cosmologist at the University of Central
Lancashire in Preston, England, led the team. And Lopez makes it clear: This
discovery may be a very big deal.
Confirmation
of this discovery “would overturn cosmology as we know it” Lopez told Science
News. “Our standard model, not to put it too heavily, kind of falls through”
when trying to explain the arc of galaxies, the cosmologist added.
The cosmological principle says the universe is homogenous and isotopic (aka, vaguely the same everywhere and in all directions) on scales larger than ~1.2 billion light years. But the Giant Arc referenced above is a cluster of galaxies almost 3 times that size! #AAS238 pic.twitter.com/3ZANCnr355
— astrobites (@astrobites) June 7, 2021
That means THREE of these arcs could fit between us and the edge of the observable universe-- 10 degrees on the sky, or 20 full moons! This arc was detecting by looking for magnesium absorbers in @sdssurveys data. #AAS238 pic.twitter.com/YUJDlN0p1S
— astrobites (@astrobites) June 7, 2021
The arc of
galaxies, which Lopez and her colleagues simply refer to as “the Giant Arc,”
violates the cosmological principle because of its outsized heterogeneity. As
the organization, astrobites, notes in the tweet above, the cosmological
principle—which is not a physical law, but rather a guiding heuristic—expects
homogeneity of matter on sections of universe larger than 1.2 billion
light-years across. But the Giant Arc is heterogenous on a scale three times
that size.
While the
arc technically takes up a portion of sky 20-full-Moons across, it’s invisible
to the naked eye. Lopez and her colleagues were able to detect it, however, due
to the way it distorts light from quasars behind it. Science News notes the
Giant Arc’s “signature” on the electromagnetic spectrum is in magnesium atoms
that have lost one electron; meaning the light we receive from the quasars
behind the arc is absorbed and emitted by these magnesium atoms, and thusly has
a particular wavelength when we receive it on Earth. (Incidentally, quasars are
feasting black holes at the center of galaxies.)
It seems the
goal now is solidify the evidence for the existence of the Giant Arc. An
astrophysicist Science News spoke with, for example, discussed his skepticism
of the discovery. Other cosmologists, he noted, have thought patterns existed
in the cosmos when they, in fact, did not. Regardless, we’re glad people are
looking for anomalies in space. The universe has surprised us plenty of times
before, after all.
Lisez bien, je vais faire court. Retenez ceci des écrits bibliques: (Je suis le premier et le dernier - Je suis l'alpha et l'oméga) Ici dans ce genre de paroles écrites, je vois cela comme une référence à une échelle de dimension. La + petite particule que je connaisse est le neutrino, particule sphérique se déplaçant super rapidement à son échelle et n'entrant pas en collision avec d'autres, disons que je la nomme alpha. Béta dans cette même ordre d'idées serait donc l'atôme, seconde particule sphérique, de dimensions supérieure dans l'échelle, Gamma serait donc la terre, particule sphérique comme le neutrino et l'atôme. Je continu, je cherche Delta... et je découvre que nous formons cette grosse particule qui est Delta, en ce sens que la distance qui sépare 2 neutrinos, ou 2 atômes, sans être absolu, pourrait être proportionnellement celle qui sépare les planètes et astres de notre propre dimension. Dans votre article, serait il possible que l'arc géant observé, serait en fait la courbure de la sphère Delta, délimitant ainsi notre propre dimension particulaire de ce que nous formons?
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no! Have none of those astro-guys never watched swirling currents in a river? The apparent homogenous conclusion must have been brought about by short term observation. They make it much too complicated, at least complicated enough to create their PhD thesis.
ReplyDelete