Latest news with #AlexiaLopez
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Giant Structure in Deep Space Challenges Our Understanding of The Universe
A colossal structure in the distant Universe is defying our understanding of how the Universe evolved. In light that has traveled for 6.9 billion years to reach us, astronomers have found a giant, almost perfect ring of galaxies, some 1.3 billion light-years in diameter. It doesn't match any known structure or formation mechanism. The Big Ring, as the structure has been named, could mean that we need to amend the standard model of cosmology. The discovery, led by astronomer Alexia Lopez of the University of Central Lancashire, was presented at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in 2024, and has been published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. It's the second giant structure discovered by Lopez and her colleagues. The first, called the Giant Arc, is actually in the same part of the sky, at the same distance away. When the arc's discovery was announced in 2021, it puzzled astronomers. The Big Ring only deepens the mystery. "Neither of these two ultra-large structures is easy to explain in our current understanding of the universe," Lopez said in January 2024. "And their ultra-large sizes, distinctive shapes, and cosmological proximity must surely be telling us something important – but what exactly?" The most immediate link seems to be with something called a Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO). These are giant, circular arrangements of galaxies found all throughout space. They're actually spheres, the fossils of acoustic waves that propagated through the early Universe, and then froze when space became so diffuse acoustic waves could no longer travel. The Big Ring is not a BAO. BAOs are all a fixed size of around 1 billion light-years in diameter. And thorough inspection of the Big Ring shows that it is more like a corkscrew shape that is aligned in such a way that it looks like a ring. Which leaves the very unanswered question: What the heck is it? And what does it mean for the Cosmological Principle, which states that, in all directions, any given patch of space should look pretty much the same as all other patches of space? "We expect matter to be evenly distributed everywhere in space when we view the universe on a large scale, so there should be no noticeable irregularities above a certain size," Lopez explained. "Cosmologists calculate the current theoretical size limit of structures to be 1.2 billion light-years, yet both of these structures are much larger – the Giant Arc is almost three times bigger and the Big Ring's circumference is comparable to the Giant Arc's length." But the size is just one of the problems. The other is what it means for cosmology, the study of the evolution of the Universe. The current model is the one that currently fits the best with what we observe, but there are some features that are challenging to explain under its framework. There are other models that have been put forward to address these features. Under one such model, Roger Penrose's conformal cyclic cosmology, in which the Universe goes through endless Big Bang expansion cycles, ring structures are expected – although it's worth noting that conformal cyclic cosmology has significant problems of its own. Another possibility is that the structures are a type of topological defect in the fabric of space-time known as cosmic strings. These are thought to be like proton-wide wrinkles that emerged in the early Universe as space-time stretched, then froze into place. We've not found much physical evidence of cosmic strings, but the theoretical evidence is pretty promising. At the moment, nobody knows for sure what the Big Ring and the Giant Arc signify. They could just be chance arrangements of galaxies twirling across the sky, although the likelihood of that seems pretty small. The best hope would be to find more such arrangements of galaxies, scattered throughout the Universe, hiding in plain sight. "From current cosmological theories we didn't think structures on this scale were possible," Lopez said. "We could expect maybe one exceedingly large structure in all our observable Universe. Yet, the Big Ring and the Giant Arc are two huge structures and are even cosmological neighbors, which is extraordinarily fascinating." The findings are reported in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024. Magnetar 'Starquakes' Could Forge Gold in Space, Scientists Discover Depictions of Milky Way's River of Stars Found in Ancient Egyptian Art Dawn's Second Look Reveals Vesta Could Be Part of a Lost World
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Remarkable' astrophysicist praised by top scientist
A Nobel Prize winning scientist has praised the "remarkable" work of an astrophysicist at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). PhD student Dr Alexia Lopez discovered the Giant Arc - a gigantic, ring-shaped structure in space, made up of galaxies and galaxy clusters that scientists say is so big it challenges our understanding of the universe. Sir Roger Penrose, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on black holes, has invited her to meet in person at Oxford University, where he is an Emeritus Professor. Ms Lopez, 28, said she "thought someone was playing a joke at first" when she heard he got in touch to say he was "fascinated by my findings". "I couldn't believe someone of such gravitas was interested in my work," she said, adding he is "so passionate about his research and it's infectious to see how excited he is about the possible links" between their findings. Sir Roger, a world-renowned mathematician and physicist who mentored Professor Stephen Hawking, has a keen interest in the cosmological discoveries because they could show signs of his theory of the origin and development of the universe. He has cited Ms Lopez in his latest research publication, The Physics of Conformal Cyclic Cosmology. He said: "Alexia Lopez has discovered a remarkable effect which appears to substantiate the conformal cyclic cosmological model that I originally suggested in the early years of the 21st Century. "Her observations provide what appears to be a very strong challenge to conventional cosmology which had not been previously anticipated." Ms Lopez, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at UCLan in Preston, has been with the university since 2015 when she began an undergraduate degree in physics with astrophysics. She then went on to complete a Masters and PhD with the University's Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Maths and Physics (JHI). Professor Derek Ward Thompson, director of the JHI, said: "We're very proud of what Alexia has achieved so far and she's still only at the beginning of her scientific career. "To have the backing of Sir Roger Penrose is amazing and really highlights the significance of her research." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. Huge galaxy ring challenges thinking on universe Astronomers discover 'the perfect solar system' US issues first ever fine for space junk
BBC News
30-04-2025
- Science
- BBC News
'Remarkable' UClan astrophysicist praised by top scientist
A Nobel Prize winning scientist has praised the "remarkable" work of an astrophysicist at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).PhD student Dr Alexia Lopez discovered the Giant Arc - a gigantic, ring-shaped structure in space, made up of galaxies and galaxy clusters that scientists say is so big it challenges our understanding of the Roger Penrose, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on black holes, has invited her to meet in person at Oxford University, where he is an Emeritus Lopez, 28, said she "thought someone was playing a joke at first" when she heard he got in touch to say he was "fascinated by my findings". "I couldn't believe someone of such gravitas was interested in my work," she said, adding he is "so passionate about his research and it's infectious to see how excited he is about the possible links" between their Roger, a world-renowned mathematician and physicist who mentored Professor Stephen Hawking, has a keen interest in the cosmological discoveries because they could show signs of his theory of the origin and development of the has cited Ms Lopez in his latest research publication, The Physics of Conformal Cyclic said: "Alexia Lopez has discovered a remarkable effect which appears to substantiate the conformal cyclic cosmological model that I originally suggested in the early years of the 21st Century. "Her observations provide what appears to be a very strong challenge to conventional cosmology which had not been previously anticipated."Ms Lopez, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at UCLan in Preston, has been with the university since 2015 when she began an undergraduate degree in physics with astrophysics. She then went on to complete a Masters and PhD with the University's Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Maths and Physics (JHI).Professor Derek Ward Thompson, director of the JHI, said: "We're very proud of what Alexia has achieved so far and she's still only at the beginning of her scientific career. "To have the backing of Sir Roger Penrose is amazing and really highlights the significance of her research." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
