Pattern of light from early universe detected by NASADoes light leave tracks? How is it possible for scientists to observe
light that originated billions of years ago? These are questions that
intrigue us and we are amazed when scientists figure out a way to
observe what to most of us is un-observable. This twisted pattern of light, called B-modes, has at last been
detected. The discovery, which will lead to better maps of matter across
our universe, was made using the National Science Foundation's South
Pole Telescope, with help from the Herschel space observatory. "This latest discovery is a good checkpoint on our way to the measurement of primordial B-modes," said Duncan Hanson of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, lead author of the new report published Sept. 30 in the online edition of Physical Review Letters. The elusive primordial B-modes may be imprinted with clues about how our universe was born. Scientists are currently combing through data from the Planck mission in search of them. Both Herschel and Planck are European Space Agency missions, with important NASA contributions. The oldest light we see around us today, called the cosmic microwave background, harkens back to a time just hundreds of millions of years after the universe was created. Planck recently produced the best-ever full-sky map of this light, revealing new details about of our cosmos' age, contents and origins. A fraction of this ancient light is polarized, a process that causes light waves to vibrate in the same plane. The same phenomenon occurs when sunlight reflects off lakes, or particles in our atmosphere. On Earth, special sunglasses can isolate this polarized light, reducing glare. The B-modes are a twisted pattern of polarized light. In the new study, the scientists were on a hunt for the kind of polarized light spawned by matter in a process called gravitational lensing, where the gravitational pull from knots of matter distorts the path of light. The signals are extremely faint, so Hanson and colleagues used Herschel's infrared map of matter to get a better idea of where to look. The researchers then spotted the signals with the South Pole Telescope, making the first-ever detection of B-modes. This is an important step for better mapping how matter, both normal and dark, is distributed throughout our universe. Clumps of matter in the early universe are the seeds of galaxies like our Milky Way. This artist's impression shows how photons from the early universe are deflected by the gravitational lensing effect of massive cosmic structures as they travel across the universe. Image credit: ESA Read more at NASA. 2013©. Copyright Environmental News Network http://www.enn.com/sci-tech/article/46573
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