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Fast Radio bursts may provide 3D map of cosmos.




The under-construction CHIME radio telescope may be the ultimate testing ground for a new technique to chart large objects in the universe using fast radio bursts (Credit: Keith Vanderlinde)  

Brief bursts of radio waves arriving from far off galaxies could help cosmologists estimate cosmological distances and piece together a 3D map of matter in the universe. A new technique proposed by two cosmologists from University of British Columbia will offer an independent metric in plotting the large structures of the cosmos.
Fast radio bursts are radio wave signal that last only a few milliseconds and originate outside our own galaxy. They spread out and separate according to their wavelengths as they travel through space. The longer the wavelength s tend to arrive later than the shorter ones, and this delay between arrival times may tell us not only the distance traveled by waves but also what materials (stars, gas, dark matter) lie between earth and the source of the burst.
Only 10 such burst has been recorded in eight years since the first was observed, but astronomers believe there could be thousands every day.  The researchers estimate that measurements of around 10000 fast radio bursts would be needed to account for variation in electron density, which will otherwise result in higher density regions appearing farther away and lower density regions appearing closer.
Beyond that, the only major uncertainty about the new technique’s viability is something called dispersion. This relates to how electromagnetic radiation travels at different speeds through space according to its wavelength and electron density. It’s the phenomenon that the fast radio burst calculations rests upon.
It’s not only produced by intergalactic electron density, through, but also by environmental properties of our galaxy and at the source of the fast radio burst. The former can be measured and accounted for, but the latter could prove troublesome if analysis reveal big variations in fast radio burst emissions.
If it does work out, the new method would be a welcome addition to the tiny roster of existing options for estimating cosmological distances, of which redshift measurement are the leading choice. (as the universe expands, stars move farther away, and we can infer distances from measuring how much the wavelengths shifts towards the red end of the spectrum) despite the inherent shortcoming in how the Hubble space telescope detects them.
 




Brief bursts of radio waves arriving from far off galaxies could help cosmologists estimate cosmological distances and piece together a 3D map of matter in the universe. A new technique proposed by two cosmologists from University of British Columbia will offer an independent metric in plotting the large structures of the cosmos.
Fast radio bursts are radio wave signal that last only a few milliseconds and originate outside our own galaxy. They spread out and separate according to their wavelengths as they travel through space. The longer the wavelength s tend to arrive later than the shorter ones, and this delay between arrival times may tell us not only the distance traveled by waves but also what materials (stars, gas, dark matter) lie between earth and the source of the burst.
Only 10 such burst has been recorded in eight years since the first was observed, but astronomers believe there could be thousands every day.  The researchers estimate that measurements of around 10000 fast radio bursts would be needed to account for variation in electron density, which will otherwise result in higher density regions appearing farther away and lower density regions appearing closer.
Beyond that, the only major uncertainty about the new technique’s viability is something called dispersion. This relates to how electromagnetic radiation travels at different speeds through space according to its wavelength and electron density. It’s the phenomenon that the fast radio burst calculations rests upon.
It’s not only produced by intergalactic electron density, through, but also by environmental properties of our galaxy and at the source of the fast radio burst. The former can be measured and accounted for, but the latter could prove troublesome if analysis reveal big variations in fast radio burst emissions.
If it does work out, the new method would be a welcome addition to the tiny roster of existing options for estimating cosmological distances, of which redshift measurement are the leading choice. (as the universe expands, stars move farther away, and we can infer distances from measuring how much the wavelengths shifts towards the red end of the spectrum) despite the inherent shortcoming in how the Hubble space telescope detects them.



Brief bursts of radio waves arriving from far off galaxies could help cosmologists estimate cosmological distances and piece together a 3D map of matter in the universe. A new technique proposed by two cosmologists from University of British Columbia will offer an independent metric in plotting the large structures of the cosmos.
Fast radio bursts are radio wave signal that last only a few milliseconds and originate outside our own galaxy. They spread out and separate according to their wavelengths as they travel through space. The longer the wavelength s tend to arrive later than the shorter ones, and this delay between arrival times may tell us not only the distance traveled by waves but also what materials (stars, gas, dark matter) lie between earth and the source of the burst.
Only 10 such burst has been recorded in eight years since the first was observed, but astronomers believe there could be thousands every day.  The researchers estimate that measurements of around 10000 fast radio bursts would be needed to account for variation in electron density, which will otherwise result in higher density regions appearing farther away and lower density regions appearing closer.
Beyond that, the only major uncertainty about the new technique’s viability is something called dispersion. This relates to how electromagnetic radiation travels at different speeds through space according to its wavelength and electron density. It’s the phenomenon that the fast radio burst calculations rests upon.
It’s not only produced by intergalactic electron density, through, but also by environmental properties of our galaxy and at the source of the fast radio burst. The former can be measured and accounted for, but the latter could prove troublesome if analysis reveal big variations in fast radio burst emissions.
If it does work out, the new method would be a welcome addition to the tiny roster of existing options for estimating cosmological distances, of which redshift measurement are the leading choice. (as the universe expands, stars move farther away, and we can infer distances from measuring how much the wavelengths shifts towards the red end of the spectrum) despite the inherent shortcoming in how the Hubble space telescope detects them.
Ed Tesla

Ed Tesla

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