A team of scientists may have detected a twist in light from the early universe that could help explain how the universe began. Such a finding has been compared in significance to the detection of the Higgs boson at the LHC in 2012.
What they detected is known as primordial B-mode polarization and is important for at least two reasons. It would be the first detection of gravitational waves, which are predicted to exist under Einstein’s theory of relativity but have never before been seen. But the thing that has scientists really excited is that it could provide the first direct evidence for a theorized event called inflation that caused the universe to exponentially grow just a fraction of a fraction of a second after it was born.
“Detecting this signal is one of the most important goals in cosmology today,” astronomer John Kovac of Harvard, who led the team announcing the discovery today, in a press release.
via Wired
Image: Primordial gravitational waves may have been detected in this swirly pattern of light from the early universe.
Credit: BICEP2 Collaboration
