Astronomers were able to pick up massive shockwaves that are shaking the cosmic web, which links each galaxy within the universe. This could offer hints regarding magnetic fields and how the biggest space structures were shaped.
Massive Shockwaves Shake the Cosmic Web
Live Science reports that this is the first time for astronomers to sight huge shockwaves, which are galaxy-scale that shake the cosmic web. This cosmic web links together all known galaxies across the universe. The cosmic waves reveal how the biggest objects across the universe got formed.
The discovery was done by stacking and stitching together thousands of radio telescope shots. These showed a soft radio glow that comes from shockwaves from colliding objects within the cosmic web.
The detection findings were included in a study published in the Science Advances journal. It was conducted by a team from the ICRAR (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research).
About Cosmic Web
The cosmic web is a huge network of intersecting cosmic superhighways that are filled with dark matter and gaseous hydrogen. In most cases, galaxies form where several web strands meet each other. These are often found in hundreds of thousands of clusters.
Popular Mechanics reports that the cosmic web can be thought of as a large-scale observable universe. It is an interweaving web full of clusters and filaments of galaxies, gases, and dark matter.
The ICRAR team wanted to examine the role played by magnetic fields on such a large scale. Such a feat has been long proven to be hard to pull off.
Shockwaves and Magnetic Fields
Tessa Vernstrom, study lead author and ICRAR astronomer, mentions that magnetic fields fill the universe. However, several areas of cosmic magnetism are not fully comprehended, especially in scales like that of the cosmic web.
The tendrils of the cosmic web formed as matter clumps from the antiparticle-particle rolling broth of the early universe. The expansion of the universe then outwardly pushed the filaments in order to create an interconnected soap-water structure of fine films surrounding several voids, which are mostly empty.
The matter in the cosmic web may collide violently at times. When this happens, strong shockwaves release charged particles through the magnetic fields of the web. This leads the particles to release a faint radio glow.
While these shockwaves have been observed across various huge galaxy clusters, this is the first time that they were topped around the cosmic web.
Vernston says that the shockwaves release radio emissions that should lead the cosmic web to glow within the radio spectrum. However, these glows were not conclusively picked up because of the signal's faintness.
To pick up faint signals, the scientists used data from the Planck Legacy Archive, Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey, Owens Valley Long Wavelength Array, and the Murchison Widefield Array. The information was used in order to perform stacking of radio imaging, which covers 612,025 pairs of galaxy clusters. The stacking helped enhance the faint signals.
Then, the researchers only searched for radio waves that were polarized. By doing so, they were able to detect the signal.
Vernstrom notes that, with very few sources that expel polarized radio light, their search had a lower likelihood of contamination. They were also able to grant stronger proof that shockwave emissions were observed in the universe's largest structures. This helps confirm growth models in such huge structures.
With the confirmation of the shockwaves' existence, these findings may be used by scientists to look deeper into the huge magnetic fields across the cosmic web and see how they participate in shaping the cosmos.
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