Dark Forces Twisted the Light from the Past ⚡ экспресс
The cosmological birefringence angle β was measured using polarization data from the cosmic microwave background in the sixth data release of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). A Bayesian analysis of parity-violating EB and TB correlations was performed, incorporating priors for instrumental angles derived from an optical model and marginalizing over residual intensity-to-polarization leakage. The obtained value is β = 0.215° ± 0.074° (68% confidence level), excluding a zero value at a statistical significance of 2.9σ. The result is consistent with independent data from the WMAP and Planck missions, showing the same sign and comparable magnitude. Despite the presence of uncontrolled systematics in the ACT data, this hints at a possible symmetry violation in the dark sector physics.
Light from the Big Bang is not just a ray. Its wave oscillates in a plane, like a trembling ribbon stretched across the universe. Usually, this ribbon doesn’t change direction over billions of years of travel. But ACT data showed: the polarization plane of the cosmic microwave background has rotated by 0.2 degrees — as if an unseen wind twisted it.
The culprit could be dark matter or dark energy — mysterious entities that make up almost the entire cosmos yet emit no light. Their fields, according to the hypothesis, can slowly rotate light. A similar twist was earlier spotted by WMAP and Planck satellites, strengthening the suspicion.
The effect lies outside the Standard Model — our best description of the microworld. Scientists are cautious: measurements have noise. But three independent instruments see the same thing. If confirmed, we’ll touch the invisible foundation of the cosmos for the first time.
🎯 A 0.2-degree twist is like walking from Earth to the Moon and deviating from a straight line by just the thickness of a human hair.