For decades, the modern astronomy has stumbled upon an awkward question: when you add up everything you can see and touch in the universe, from planets and stars to cosmic gas and dust, nearly half of the ordinary matter predicted by theoretical models after the Big Bang seemed to be missing. What began as a simple discrepancy in calculations has grown into one of the biggest questions in cosmology today. But now, research published in Nature Astronomy has managed to shed light on this mystery with the help of an unexpected cosmic “tool”: the fast radio bursts, or FRBs.
FRBs They are intense pulses of extremely brief radio waves that, despite their fleeting nature, possess enough power to traverse immense spaces in the universe. Until just a few years ago, many astronomers didn't even suspect their existence, but today they have taken on a leading role in measuring the material content of the cosmos.
The international team responsible for the breakthrough, made up of scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Caltech, has analyzed 60 FRB events spanning distances of billions of light years to map how the baryonic matter —normal protons and neutrons—in the cosmic web. Using a technique comparable to using a flashlight on a foggy night, they estimated the amount of invisible matter by analyzing the arrival time delays of different radio frequencies on Earth.
Where is ordinary matter hiding?
Using this ingenious method, it has been possible to verify that approximately 76% of baryonic matter is floating between galaxies, in the form of ionized, extremely diffuse gas that forms a kind of "cosmic fog." Another 15% of the material is located in galactic halos—those invisible regions surrounding galaxies—and only a smaller amount is contained within the stars themselves or clouds of cold gas.
Until now, traditional telescopes have been ineffective in detecting this scattered matter, as it is too faint to emit visible light. However, measure of dispersion The analysis of FRB signals has allowed us to "weigh" this gas, thus determining the distribution of normal matter in the modern universe. These conclusions are consistent with what the most advanced cosmological models predicted, providing one of the most eagerly awaited direct confirmations in recent times.
The importance of the cosmic web and dynamic processes
One of the fundamental questions that this research resolves is why the Most of the visible matter is not in galaxiesSimulations and observations suggest that the most energetic processes—such as supernova explosions or the activity of supermassive black holes—expel much of the gas from galaxies, launching it into the vast intergalactic medium. Thus, matter "floats" dispersed in the cosmic web, far from galactic environments where gravity tends to attract it, but multiple mechanisms ultimately return it to space. To understand more deeply how this dynamic works, you can consult the characteristics and classification of spiral galaxies.
Understanding the precise location of these baryons is vital to explaining how galaxies form and evolve, how stars are distributed, and what processes enable or limit the emergence of new cosmic structures. According to the study's authors, the fact that FRBs allow us to trace this invisible component opens a new stage in the exploration of the universe on a large scale.
From the enigma to the new era of cosmic exploration
For figures like Vikram Ravi y Liam Connor, directly involved in the research, this discovery is “a true triumph of modern astronomy.” FRBs have established themselves as a revolutionary tool for locate and map invisible matter and, in the process, confirm the validity of current cosmological models. Thanks to the capabilities of new telescopes and future projects such as DSA-2000 o CHORD, the scientific community hopes to multiply the number of FRBs analyzed and explore the cosmic web with unprecedented precision in the coming years.
In addition to settling a numerical issue, know where the baryonic matter is It allows for deeper investigation into key phenomena, such as the conditions under which galaxy formation occurs or how light travels over billions of years. These baryons, far from remaining motionless, are subject to dynamic cycles: gravity causes them to fall into galaxies, but energetic processes can disperse them again, functioning as a kind of cosmic thermostat that regulates the thermal balance of the universe.
Implications for cosmology and future steps
The progress achieved with the use of FRBs not only validates the idea that Almost all the visible material in the cosmos is outside the galaxies, but it also rules out alternative hypotheses that pointed to galactic halos as a possible refuge for "hidden" matter. This result also places a limit on the amount of mass that can be converted into stars, with direct repercussions on star formation models and our understanding of the evolution of the universe on a large scale. To expand your knowledge of the observable universe, you can visit the observable universe.
Experts see the consolidation of this technique as the starting gun for a new era in observational cosmology, since the ability to identify, track, and study baryonic matter with such precision will inform the coming years of discoveries and insights into the fundamental structure that sustains the cosmos.
It has been shown that locating the “lost matter” Not only does it solve one of the greatest enigmas of recent astronomy, but it also lays the groundwork for a more detailed understanding of how the universe evolves. The combination of innovative techniques and international collaboration has made it possible not only to count matter, but also to better understand the cosmic fabric that, for billions of years, has sustained everything we know.