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How the Moon can help understand the composition of the universe

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The detection of lunar radio waves opens a new era in astronomy, promising answers about the formation of the universe and enigmatic dark matter (Getty)

A study of Tel Aviv University has predicted for the first time the innovative results that can be obtained with the detection of radio waves from the Moon.

The document findings show that this type of signs, When they are measured, they can be used for a new test of the standard cosmological model for determine the composition of the universeas well as the weight of neutrino particles and possibly help scientists to get another clue about the mystery of dark matter. The conclusions were published in the specialized magazine Nature Astronomy.

The researchers, led by Professor Rennan Barkana of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy at the Raymond & Beverly Sackler School of Sciences, as well as postdoctoral fellow Dr. Rajesh Mondal, noted that the cosmic dark agesthe precise period before the formation of the first starscan be studied by detecting radio waves emitted by the hydrogen gas that filled the universe at that time, according to a press release issued by the Israeli house of higher education.

Although every car is believed to have an antenna that can detect radio waves, specific signals from the early universe are blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere. That is, they can only be studied from the spaceparticularly from the Moon, which offers a stable environment free of interference from the atmosphere or radio communications.

The era of the cosmic dark ages and its mysteries could be explored through antennas located on the Moon, offering an environment free of terrestrial interference (Pixabay)

Of course, putting a telescope on the moon is not a simple matter, but we are witnessing an international space race in which many countries try to return to the satellite with space probes and, eventually, astronauts. Respective agencies in the US, Europe, China and India are seeking valuable scientific targets for lunar development, and the new research highlights the prospects of detecting radio waves from the cosmic dark age.

“NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope recently discovered distant galaxies whose light we received from the cosmic dawn, about 300 million years after the Big Bang. “Our new research studies an even earlier and more mysterious era: the cosmic Dark Ages, just 50 million years after the Big Bang,” Barkana said.

And he added: “The conditions in the early Universe were quite different from those today. The study combines current knowledge of cosmic history with various options for radio observations, in order to reveal what can be discovered. Specifically, we calculate the intensity of the radio waves determined by the density and temperature of the hydrogen gas at various times, and then show how the signals can be analyzed to extract the desired results from them.”

New analysis from Tel Aviv University calculated the intensity of radio waves to reveal unknown aspects of the cosmos, including the composition and temperature of hydrogen gas (Getty)

The researchers value that the findings could be very significant for the scientific understanding of our cosmic history, so that with a single lunar antenna the standard model of cosmology can be tested to see if it is possible to explain the cosmic dark ages or if, for the On the contrary, it was, for example, an unexpected disturbance in the expansion of the universe that would point towards a new discovery.

In addition, with equipment composed of a set of radio antennas, the composition of the universe can be precisely determined, specifically, the amount of hydrogen and helium it contains. That is the original form of the ordinary matter of the universe, from which the stars, the planets and, finally, ourselves were formed.

A precise determination of the amount of helium is also of great importance, since it would allow us to explore the ancient period, about a minute after the Big Bang, in which that compound was formed, when the entire universe was essentially a giant nuclear reactor. With an even larger array of lunar antennas, it will also be possible to measure the weight of cosmic neutrinos, tiny particles emitted in various nuclear reactions; its weight is an unknown and critical parameter in the development of physics beyond the established standard model of particle physics.

“With lunar observations, it may be possible to discover several properties of dark matter, the mysterious substance that we know makes up most of the matter in the Universe, but that we do not know much about its nature and properties. Clearly, the cosmic dark ages are destined to shed new light on the Universe,” Barkana concluded.

*Rajesh Mondal is a researcher and postdoctoral fellow in Astrophysics at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Rennan Barkana is a professor at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Both are co-authors of the scientific work. The information contained in this journalistic article arises from the research called “Perspectives for a precision cosmology with the 21 cm signal from the Middle Ages”, published in Nature Astronomy. In addition to the press release issued by the Tel Aviv University.



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