Scientists have produced the most detailed images yet of the early universe, revealing new insights into the mysterious substance known as dark matter and much more. Among collaborators from 65 institutions worldwide, two researchers from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences helped analyze the findings.
Using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile, the international team peered into the depths of space to capture the clearest view ever of the cosmic microwave background — a snapshot of the universe when it was just 380,000 years old.
“It’s pretty exciting to work with this amazing team and dive into such a rich dataset as these ripples in the cosmic afterglow of the Big Bang,” said Vera Gluscevic, associate professor of physics and astronomy. “This is a treasure trove for dark matter science and beyond.”
Using the new imaging data, Gluscevic and Adam He, a PhD student in her lab, refined their model for investigating dark matter — which can’t be seen directly — by analyzing how it subtly disturbs the distribution of ordinary matter. The unprecedented clarity of the new images sharpened their results and brought increased precision to their work.
“Since the [ACT] data is extremely high-resolution, we were able to derive a new upper limit on how much the dark matter is allowed to collide with regular matter,” improving the sensitivity of their method, He said.
The research brings them “one step closer to finally figuring out what dark matter is,” Gluscevic added.
About the study
This research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (AST-0408698, AST-0965625 and AST-1440226 for the ACT project, as well as awards PHY-0355328, PHY-0855887 and PHY-1214379), Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and a Canada Foundation for Innovation award.
The project is led by Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, with 160 collaborators at 65 institutions.
ACT operated in Chile from 2007 to 2022 under an agreement with the University of Chile in the Atacama Astronomical Park.