by Astronomers who use the very large telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile have depicted a filament of the cosmic web that connects two galaxies in unprecedented details. Performing simulations, the team says that the collected data provides further support to the current cold dark material model of the universe.
As we study the universe more, we have discovered that we are part of much larger structures. We run the sun, the sun is part of the Melkweg, the Melkweg is part of the Laniakea Supercluster and the Laniakea Supercluster forms a small miniscuels part of the cosmic web, also known as the largest structure in the universe.
“Astronomers theoretization that the early universe went very smoothly and that the distribution of matter was uniform with small variations in density that grew into a web -like pattern,” Nasa explains from the cosmic web. “These areas of slightly higher density also had a little more gravity to attract more matter. Over time, the universe evolved into a web of filaments and large records, largely made of dark matter, which today form the structure of the universe. “
Although astronomers have devised smart ways to visualize the gas flows in the cosmic web, using the background light of Quasars, it is a particularly difficult task. The most common element in them – our old friend hydrogen, which makes up 75 percent of the baryonic matter of the universe – can only be detected vague. For the task, the international team used the Spectroscopic Explorer of multiple units (Muse) on the very large telescope, so that the same region of the air was depicted for hundreds of hours.
The result is the image below, of a cosmic filament that extends over 3 million light years, which in the past connects two galaxies of 12 billion years. In the image, the galaxies at the front and behind the cosmic filament are shown in color, while the cosmic filament itself is displayed in purple.
Cosmic Web film that connects two galaxies. The filament is marked in purple.
Image Credit: © Joseph DePasquale/Space Telescope Science Institute
The image is the first time that the cosmic web has been recorded in such a High Definition.
“By capturing the vague light by this filament, which traveled for a little less than 12 billion years to reach the earth, we were able to characterize the form precisely,” said main author and PhD student at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Davide Tornotti, said In a statement. “For the first time we were able to follow the border between the gas that lives in galaxies and the material in the cosmic web through direct measurements.”
In addition to a great sight, the team was able to test the standard model (Dark Energy, Cold Dark Matter Model of the Universe) about the Cosmic Web against observations. The team compared it with supercomputers simulations of expected filamentary emissions within the standard model, they found “substantial agreement”, according to Tornotti.
Simulation of the cosmic web, with gas inside galaxies shown as red and the web in white.
Image Credit: © Alejandro Benitez-Llambay/Universität Mailand-Bicocca/MPA
“The very deep observations unlock a high-definition representation of the filament morphology, a measure of the transition radius between the intergalactic and circumgalactic medium, and the characterization of the surface clearance profiles along the filament,” the team writes, “the team writes , “writes the team,” the team writes, “the team writes,” the team writes, “write in their studies. “Through systematic comparisons with simulations, we validate the typical density of the filaments predicted in the current cold-dark model.”
Although it is good for fans of cold dark matter (let’s hear some noise) that these observations of the cosmic web match the standard model, the work is far from. In short, we have to get a lot more observations.
“We are delighted by this direct, high-definition observation of a cosmic filament. But as people in Bavaria say: ‘Eine ist keine’ people does not count,” Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, an MPA staff scientist involved in the study, added. “So we collect further data to discover more of such structures, with the ultimate goal of having an extensive vision on how gas is distributed and flows into the cosmic web.”
The study is published in Nature Astronomy.
