Cosmic web tagged posts

Dark matter filaments bridge the space between galaxies in this false colour map. The locations of bright galaxies are shown by the white regions and the presence of a dark matter filament bridging the galaxies is shown in red. Credit: S. Epps & M. Hudson / University of Waterloo

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have been able to capture the first composite image of a dark matter bridge that connects galaxies together. The composite image, which combines a number of individual images, confirms predictions that galaxies across the universe are tied together through a cosmic web connected by dark matter that has until now remained unobservable...

The intensity of FRB 150807 at different radio frequencies or colors — red corresponds to lower frequencies and blue to higher frequencies. The x-axis is time. The fine structure in the burst is the scintillation or twinkling–the rays interfere constructively and destructively differently at different frequencies. This pattern provides insights into the turbulence in plasma towards the burst. Credit: Courtesy of V. Ravi/Caltech

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are mysterious flashes of radio waves originating outside our Milky Way galaxy. A team of scientists has now observed the most luminous FRB to date, called FRB 150807...

A slab cut from the cube generated by the Illustris simulation. It shows the distribution of dark matter, with a width and height of 350 million light-years and a thickness of 300000 light years. Galaxies are found in the small, white, high-density dots. Credit: Markus Haider / Illustris collaboration. Click for a full size image

We live in a universe dominated by unseen matter, and on the largest scales, galaxies and everything they contain are concentrated into filaments that stretch around the edge of enormous voids. Thought to be almost empty until now, astronomers now believe these dark holes could contain as much as 20% of the ‘normal’ matter in the cosmos and that galaxies make up only 1/500th of the volume of the universe.

Looking at cosmic microwave radiation, modern satellite obs...

Results of a digital simulation showing the large-scale distribution of matter, with filaments and knots. Credit: V.Springel, Max-Planck Institut für Astrophysik, Garching bei München

Matter corresponds to only 5% of the Universe. ~1/2 of this still eluded detection. Numerical simulations made it possible to predict that the rest of this ordinary matter should be located in the large-scale structures that form the “cosmic web” at temperatures between 100,000 and 10 million degs. A team observed this phenomenon directly. The research shows most of missing ordinary matter is found in the form of a very hot gas associated with intergalactic filaments.

Galaxies are formed when ordinary matter collapses then cools down...