For the first time in history, scientists have determined how light originated in the universe

An international team of scientists led by Hakim Atek from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris using data from the Hubble and James Webb telescopes found out, that dwarf galaxies played a key role in the scattered darkness of the early universe.

According to the research, the dwarf galaxies emitted photons that cleared the cosmic fog of hydrogen, making way for light.

It is worth emphasizing that such a discovery allows for a better understanding of cosmic reionization processes that took place billions of years after the Big Bang.

"This discovery reveals the important role of ultradark galaxies in the evolution of the early universe. They produce ionizing photons that convert neutral hydrogen into ionized plasma, which plays a key role in cosmic reionization.", - said astrophysicist from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris Iryna Chemerynska.

It is known that after the Big Bang, about 300 years later, space became filled with a hot and dense fog of ionized plasma.

At the beginning of the universe, light could not penetrate this fog due to scattering of photons, but over time, with the formation of the first stars, enough energy was released to convert this plasma into ionized hydrogen and helium.

The study found that dwarf galaxies are the most numerous in the early universe and are much brighter than previously thought. It turned out that these small galaxies can emit four times more ionizing radiation than large galaxies.

 

"Despite their small size, these galaxies are powerful sources of energy, and their numbers were so significant that they had a significant impact on the state of the universe.", - said the head of the study, Hakim Atyk.

Thus, a recent study based on cosmic lensing data in the galaxy cluster Abel 2744 has provided new details about early galaxies. However, scientists still need more research to confirm these results on a larger number of samples.

 

“We are now in a new phase of research with JWST. This discovery raises exciting new questions that we still need to answer to better understand the evolution of our universe.", said astrophysicist Temiya Nanayakkara of Swinburne University in Australia.