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Category: cosmology – Page 276

Studying the big bang with artificial intelligence

It could hardly be more complicated: tiny particles whir around wildly with extremely high energy, countless interactions occur in the tangled mess of quantum particles, and this results in a state of matter known as “quark-gluon plasma”. Immediately after the Big Bang, the entire universe was in this state; today it is produced by high-energy atomic nucleus collisions, for example at CERN.

Such processes can only be studied using high-performance computers and highly complex computer simulations whose results are difficult to evaluate. Therefore, using artificial intelligence or machine learning for this purpose seems like an obvious idea. Ordinary machine-learning algorithms, however, are not suitable for this task. The mathematical properties of particle physics require a very special structure of neural networks. At TU Wien (Vienna), it has now been shown how neural networks can be successfully used for these challenging tasks in particle physics.

Extraordinary Black Hole — Unlike Any Other — Discovered in Neighboring Galaxy

The discovery, one of the only confirmed intermediate-mass black holes, lives in an equally rare object known as a low-mass, stripped nucleus.

Astronomers discovered a black hole unlike any other. At one hundred thousand solar masses, it is smaller than the black holes we have found at the centers of galaxies, but bigger than the black holes that are born when stars explode. This makes it one of the only confirmed intermediate-mass black holes, an object that has long been sought by astronomers.

“We have very good detections of the biggest, stellar-mass black holes up to 100 times the size of our sun, and supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies that are millions of times the size of our sun, but there aren’t any measurements of black between these. That’s a large gap,” said senior author Anil Seth, associate professor of astronomy at the University of Utah and co-author of the study. “This discovery fills the gap.”

The End of Cosmic Dark Ages: How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Could Expand on Hubble’s Deepest View

A team of astrophysicists has created a simulated image that shows how the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could conduct a mega-exposure similar to but far larger than Hubble’s celebrated Ultra Deep Field Image. This Hubble observation transformed our view of the early universe, revealing galaxies that formed just a few hundred million years after the big bang.

“Roman has the unique ability to image very large areas of the sky, which allows us to see the environments around galaxies in the early universe,” said Nicole Drakos, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz, who led the study. “Our study helps demonstrate what a Roman ultra-deep field could tell us about the universe, while providing a tool for the scientific community to extract the most value from such a program.”

New study reveals the gentler side of black holes

This tiny galaxy has a huge black hole at its center that’s churning out stars.

Scientists observed a black hole birthing new stars in a dwarf galaxy for the first time, providing evidence as to how these all-consuming objects can create stellar nurseries. The observations also reveal how ancient black holes may have formed shortly after the Big Bang.

The findings are detailed in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

HERE’S THE BACKGROUND — Black holes are compact, dense concentrations of matter in space, a region with such a strong gravitational pull that not even light can escape.

Hubble Spots a Black Hole Igniting a Firestorm of Star Formation in a Dwarf Galaxy

Dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2–10 sparkles with young stars in this Hubble visible-light image. The bright region at the center, surrounded by pink clouds and dark dust lanes, indicates the location of the galaxy’s massive black hole and active stellar nurseries. Credit: NASA, ESA, Zachary Schutte (XGI), Amy Reines (XGI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Black holes are often described as the monsters of the universe—tearing apart stars, consuming anything that comes too close, and holding light captive. Detailed evidence from NASA

Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. It’s vision is “To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.”

Astronomers Want to Build a Neutrino Telescope. Using the Pacific Ocean?

Neutrino detectors are about to get a lot bigger.

One of the most mysterious particles in the universe are neutrinos, with only dark matter out-baffling scientists as a more puzzling phenomenon.

And while there are neutrino detectors in operation hunting for the rarified particles, we might need to resort to the colossal scales of the Pacific Ocean to detect a class of ultra-powerful neutrinos, according to a recent study shared on a preprint server.

And, with a small-scale demo in the works, we may soon see whether this idea will pan out, and transform our grasp of the universe.

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A Hypergiant Star Is ‘Breathing’ in Space. Has It Reached Its Death Throes?

It’s time to make peace with one of the largest-known stars.

Everything is relative. By that, I mean: Jupiter, when compared to Earth, is large. Yet Jupiter, when compared to the Sun, is small. By virtue, the Sun in comparison with hypergiants is basically microscopic. Our local star actually sits right in the middle, between big and small, by star classification. There are many stars in our galaxy alone that fall on one end of the spectrum or the other. Yet, none has quite captured the imagination exactly like the “nearby” star known as VY Canis Majoris (otherwise known as HD 58,061 or HIP 35793) can.

Located approximately between 3,800 and 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Canis Major, VY Canis Majoris is technically classified as a red hypergiant, which means it is among the largest of stars known to exist in our galaxy. How large is it, you might ask? Well, VY Canis Major is estimated to be larger than between 1,800 and 2100 Suns, with between 15 to 25 times more mass. At its peak, it may be even weighed as much as 40 solar masses (one solar mass is equivalent to one of our suns, or 1.989 × 1,030 kg), but astronomers believe the star has moved beyond “main sequence” and is reaching the end of its stellar life span. Therefore, a significant amount of its mass has already been blown away by solar winds.

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VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars in the galaxy. Here’s everything you need to know: