Astronomers have uncovered a vast cloud of energetic particles surrounding one of the most distant galaxy clusters ever observed, marking a major step forward in understanding the hidden forces that shape the cosmos.
It shows that entire galaxy clusters, among the largest structures in the Universe, have been immersed in high-energy particles for most of their existence.
This discovery, at a distance so great that it takes light 10 billion years to reach Earth, is the most distant 'radio mini-halo' ever found - doubling the previous record.
Such a mini-halo consists of highly energetic charged particles in the vacuum between galaxies in a cluster, which together emanate radio waves which we can detect from Earth.
The discovery shows that even in the early Universe, galaxy clusters were already shaped by energetic processes.
And understanding how energy moves through galaxy clusters can help us piece together the story of cosmic evolution.
There are two likely explanations behind the formation of the mini-halo.
One is supermassive black holes which lie at the hearts of galaxies within a cluster and can eject streams of high-energy particles into space.
However, astronomers are still trying to understand how these particles would be able to migrate away from the black hole to create such a gigantic cloud of particles, while maintaining so much of their energy.
The second explanation is cosmic particle collisions.
This is when charged particles within the hot plasma of the galaxy cluster collide at near-light speeds, smashing apart into the highly energetic particles we observe.
It gives us a rare look at what galaxy clusters were like just after they formed.
The finding not only shows that galaxy clusters have been infused with these high-energy particles for billions of years more than previously known, but also allows astronomers to study where these high-energy particles come from.
It’s astonishing to find such a strong radio signal at this distance - it means these energetic particles and the processes creating them have been shaping galaxy clusters for nearly the entire history of the Universe.
The mini-halo was found using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope.
LOFAR is a radio telescope involving a vast network of over 100,000 small antennas spanning eight European countries.
The research team was led by the University of Montreal in Canada and involved our physicist Dr Roland Timmerman alongside experts from multiple European and international institutions.
The findings have been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Main image is a composite image of SpARCS1049 showing the optical colour image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in addition to the radio emission as detected by LOFAR (red) and the X-ray emission as detected by the Chandra Space Telescope (blue). Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Radio: ASTRON/LOFAR; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
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