We are all made of matter. This matter was first thrown outwards in the moments after the Big Bang when our universe came into existence. Over centuries it all packed together to form planets and eventually our Solar System and Earth as well. Scientists have now revealed a map of the matter in the universe to better understand the story of evolution.

Researchers have released one of the most precise measurements ever made of how matter is distributed across the universe today. The team from the University of Chicago and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) have tried to understand the forces that shaped the evolution of the universe. The team combined data from two major telescope surveys of the universe, the Dark Energy Survey and the South Pole Telescope, which looks for the faint traces of radiation that are still traveling across the sky from the first few moments of the universe. The team of 150 researchers has released the details of their findings in a series of three different papers in Physical Review D.

They found that matter in the universe is not as clumpy as was expected in the current model of the universe. The current model indicates that at the time of the Big Bang, the universe was condensed into a single point of infinite density and extreme heat that bursts suddenly and combined to form protons, neutrons, and nuclei. A few thousand years later, hydrogen and helium atoms originated. “The analysis indicates that matter is not as “clumpy” as we would expect based on our current best model of the universe, which adds to a body of evidence that there may be something missing from our existing standard model of the universe,” researchers said in a release.

Scientists are interested in tracing the path of the matter, as by seeing where all the matter ended up, they could try to recreate what happened and what forces would have had to have been in play after the Big Bang.

Chihway Chang, one of the lead authors of the studies said that the data from two different telescopes functions like a cross-check, so it becomes a much more robust measurement than if you just used one or the other. The team looked at gravitational lensing, the slight bending of light as it passes objects with lots of gravity, like galaxies.

By rigorously analyzing these two sets of data, scientists could infer where all the matter ended up in the universe. It is more precise than previous measurements—that is, it narrows down the possibilities for where this matter wound up—compared to previous analyses, the authors said.

The analysis is a landmark as it yielded useful information from two very different telescope surveys. “I think this exercise showed both the challenges and benefits of doing these kinds of analyses. There’s a lot of new things you can do when you combine these different angles of looking at the universe,” Chang added.   Source: India Today