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Some Clever Ways to Search for Primordial Black Holes
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) have recently received much attention in the physics community. One of the primary reasons is the potential link to dark matter. In effect, if PBHs can be proven to exist, there’s a very good chance that they are what dark matter, the invisible thing that makes up 85% of the universe’s mass, is made of. If proven, that would surely be a Nobel-level discovery in astrophysics.
But to prove it, someone has to find them first. So far, PBHs exist only in theory. But we’re getting closer to proving they do exist, and a new paper from Marcos Flores of the Sorbonne and Alexander Kusenko of UCLA traces some ideas on how we might be able to finally find PBHs and thereby prove or disprove their connection to dark matter.
Drs. Flores and Kusenko focus on understanding PBH formation theories and then extrapolate how those formations might be detectable, even with modern equipment. A typical black hole, which we know exists, forms when supermassive stars collapse under their own weight.
Fraser discusses PBHs.PBHs were formed before any stars of such size were available to collapse, so they must be formed using a different mechanism. The paper details a theorized PBH formation process that involves a detailed mathematical look at particle asymmetry and how that fits in with other models of particle physics. But how can astronomers see those formations?
One way is by watching a loss of angular momentum. Astronomers can observe “halos” of particles early on in the universe. In many cases, they are spinning rapidly. However, if their spin slows dramatically, it may indicate that a PBH was forming in the vicinity, sapping some of the energy from that angular momentum by pulling the particles towards themselves.
Another way is by watching a new favorite mechanism of astronomers everywhere – gravitational waves. It’s not completely clear whether the formation of PBHs can cause gravitational waves. Still, the paper discusses some frameworks that can potentially lead to a theory of whether they do.
Fraser discusses how hard it is to find PBHs with Dr. Celeste Keith.Supersymmetry provides one of those frameworks. In some cases, the early universe operating under the principles of supersymmetry could form a PBH that would form a gravitational wave that the next generation of gravitational wave detectors could potentially detect. In particular, it would involve what the paper calls a “poltergeist mechanism” resulting from space-time perturbations in certain theories.
A final way to detect these PBHs is to watch for gravitational lenses. Some experiments like the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) and the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) of the Subaru telescope have noticed gravitational microlensing where there is no known massive object to cause such lensing. PBHs, which would be effectively invisible to those telescopes, could offer one explanation, though other explanations must be ruled out first.
Other theories offer other opportunities for PBH detection, including watching the interaction of “Q-balls” or theoretical large “blobs” of matter. If enough of these are collected together, they could potentially form a PBH.
Ultimately, there are more questions than answers surrounding these mysterious objects. If they do exist, they could answer plenty of them. However, more data is needed to prove that beyond any reasonable doubt. Experimentalists are already pushing forward as quickly as they can to develop new and better detectors that can help in the hunt for PBHs. If they do exist, it’s only a matter of time before we find them.
Learn More:
Flores & Kusenko – New ideas on the formation and astrophysical detection of primordial black holes
UT – The Universe Could Be Filled With Ultralight Black Holes That Can’t Die
UT – If We Could Find Them, Primordial Black Holes Would Explain a Lot About the Universe
UT – Neutron Stars Could be Capturing Primordial Black Holes
Lead Image:
Illustration of colliding black holes.
Credit – Caltech / R. Hurt (IPAC)
The post Some Clever Ways to Search for Primordial Black Holes appeared first on Universe Today.
NASA to Discuss New Polar Climate Mission During Media Teleconference
NASA is hosting a media call at 3 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, May 15, to discuss the agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission, which aims to improve life on Earth by studying heat loss from Earth’s polar regions and provide information on our changing climate.
The first of two shoebox-sized satellites is targeted to launch aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket no earlier than Wednesday, May 22. The launch date for the second satellite will be announced shortly after the launch of the first satellite.
Earth absorbs a lot of energy from the Sun at the tropics. Weather and ocean currents move that heat energy toward the poles, where the heat radiates upward into space. Much of that heat is in far-infrared wavelengths and has never been systematically measured. The data from PREFIRE will address this knowledge gap for the benefit of all by improving predictions of climate change and sea level rise.
The audio-only teleconference streamed live on the agency’s website.
Participants include:
- Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Mary White, project manager, PREFIRE, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California
- Tristan L’Ecuyer, principal investigator, PREFIRE, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Peter Beck, CEO and founder, Rocket Lab
To participate by telephone, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the call, to Elizabeth Vlock at: elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov.
For more information about NASA’s PREFIRE mission, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire
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Karen Fox / Elizabeth Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Jane Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
Station Science 101 | Research in Microgravity: Higher, Faster, Longer
The International Space Station provides unique features that enable innovative research, including microgravity, exposure to space, a unique orbit, and hands-on operation by crew members.
MicrogravityThe space station provides consistent, long-term access to microgravity. Eliminating the effects of Earth’s gravity on experiments is a game-changer across many disciplines, including research on living things and physical and chemical processes. For example, without gravity hot air does not rise, so flames become spherical and behave differently. Removing the forces of surface tension and capillary movement allows scientists to examine fluid behavior more closely.
A flame created in microgravity during the SoFIE-GEL experiment.NASA A Unique Orbit
The speed, pattern, and altitude of the space station’s orbit provide unique advantages. Traveling at 17,500 miles per hour, it circles the planet every 90 minutes, passing over a majority of Earth’s landmass and population centers in daylight and darkness. Its 250-mile-high altitude is low enough for detailed observation of features, atmospheric phenomena, and natural disasters from different angles and with varying lighting conditions. At the same time, the station is high enough to study how space radiation affects material durability and how organisms adapt and examine phenomena such as neutron stars and blackholes. The spacecraft also places observing instruments outside Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, which can interfere with observations from the ground.
Instruments on the outside of the space station.NASA Crewed Laboratory
Other satellites in orbit contain scientific experiments and conduct Earth observations, but the space station also has crew members aboard to manage and maintain scientific activities. Human operators can respond to and assess events in real time, swap out experiment samples, troubleshoot, and observe results first-hand. Crew members also pack experiment samples and send them back to the ground for detailed analysis.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei uses a microscope to capture images for an engineered tissue study.NASA Twenty Years and CountingThanks to the space station’s longevity, experiments can continue for months or even years. Scientists can design follow-up studies based on previous results, and every expedition offers the chance to expand the number of subjects for human research.
One area of long-term human research is on changes in vision, first observed when astronauts began spending months at a time in space. Scientists wondered whether fluids shifting from the lower to the upper body in microgravity caused increased pressure inside the head that changed eye shape. The Fluid Shifts investigation began in 2015 and continued to measure the extent of fluid shifts in multiple astronauts through 2020.1
Whether the original study is long or short, it can take years for research to go from the lab into practical applications. Many steps are involved, some of them lengthy. First, researchers must come up with a question and a possible answer, or hypothesis. For example, Fluid Shifts questioned what was causing vision changes and a possible answer was increased fluid pressure in the head. Scientists must then design an experiment to test the hypothesis, determining what data to collect and how to do so.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague collects intraocular pressure from NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan for the Fluid Shifts study.NASA
Getting research onto the space station in the first place takes time, too. NASA reviews proposals for scientific merit and relevance to the agency’s goals. Selected investigations are assigned to a mission, typically months in the future. NASA works with investigators to meet their science requirements, obtain approvals, schedule crew training, develop flight procedures, launch hardware and supplies, and collect any preflight data needed. Once the study launches, in-flight data collection begins. When scientists complete their data collection, they need time to analyze the data and determine what it means. This may take a year or more.
Scientists then write a paper about the results – which can take many months – and submit it to a scientific journal. Journals send the paper to other experts in the same field, a process known as peer review. According to one analysis, this review takes an average of 100 days.2 The editors may request additional analysis and revisions based on this review before publishing.
Adding Subjects Adds TimeAspects of research on the space station can add more time to the process. Generally, the more test subjects, the better – from 100 to 1,000 subjects for statistically significant results for clinical research. But the space station typically only houses about six people at a time.
Lighting Effects shows how the need for more subjects adds time to a study. This investigation examined whether adjusting the intensity and color of lighting inside the station could help improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep, and cognitive performance. To collect data from enough crew members, the study ran from 2016 until 2020.
Other lengthy studies about how humans adapt to life in space include research on loss of heart muscle and a suite of long-term studies on nutrition, including producing fresh food in space.
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins works on an investigation testing equipment for growing high-protein food on the space station.NASA
For physical science studies, investigators can send batches of samples to the space station and collect data more quickly, but results can create a need for additional research. Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) examined the characteristics of a wide variety of fuel samples from 2011 to 2013, and BASS-II continued that work through 2017. The Saffire series of fire safety demonstrations began in 2016 and wrapped up in 2024. Researchers have answered many burning (pun intended) questions, but still have much to learn about preventing, detecting, and extinguishing fires in space.
A sample of a composite cotton and fiberglass fabric burns during the Saffire-IV experiment.NASA
The timeline for scientific results can run long, especially in microgravity. But those results can be well worth the wait.
Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Research Communications Team
Johnson Space Center
Search this database of scientific experiments to learn more about those mentioned above.
Citations:
1 Macias BR, Liu JHK, Grande-Gutierrez N, Hargens AR. Intraocular and intracranial pressures during head-down tilt with lower body negative pressure. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2015; 86(1):3–7. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asma/amhp/2015/00000086/00000001/art00004;jsessionid=31bonpcj2e8tj.x-ic-live-01
2 Powell K. Does it take too long to publish research? Nature 530, pages148–151 (2016). https://www.nature.com/articles/530148a
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Share Details Last Updated May 13, 2024 Related TermsNASA appoints 1st AI chief to keep agency on 'the cutting edge'
Record-Breaking Ocean Heat Wave Foreshadows a Dangerous Hurricane Season
An active hurricane season could be in store because of ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic that broke records for more than a year
NASA’s Juno Mission Spots Jupiter’s Tiny Moon Amalthea
NASA’s Juno mission captured these views of Jupiter during its 59th close flyby of the giant planet on March 7, 2024. They provide a good look at Jupiter’s colorful belts and swirling storms, including the Great Red Spot. Close examination reveals something more: two glimpses of the tiny moon Amalthea (see Figure B below).
Figure B NASA’s Juno mission captured these views of Jupiter during its 59th close flyby of the giant planet on March 7, 2024. They provide a good look at Jupiter’s colorful belts and swirling storms, including the Great Red Spot. Close examination reveals something more: two glimpses of the tiny moon Amalthea.Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing by Gerald Eichstädt
With a radius of just 52 miles (84 kilometers), Amalthea has a potato-like shape, lacking the mass to pull itself into a sphere. In 2000, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft revealed some surface features, including impact craters, hills, and valleys. Amalthea circles Jupiter inside Io’s orbit, which is the innermost of the planet’s four largest moons, taking 0.498 Earth days to complete one orbit.
Amalthea is the reddest object in the solar system, and observations indicate it gives out more heat than it receives from the Sun. This may be because, as it orbits within Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field, electric currents are induced in the moon’s core. Alternatively, the heat could be from tidal stresses caused by Jupiter’s gravity.
At the time that the first of these two images was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 165,000 miles (265,000 kilometers) above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at a latitude of about 5 degrees north of the equator.
Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt made these images using raw data from the JunoCam instrument, applying processing techniques to enhance the clarity of the images.
JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at https://missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing. More information about NASA citizen science can be found at https://science.nasa.gov/citizenscience and https://www.nasa.gov/solve/opportunities/citizenscience.
More information about Juno is at https://www.nasa.gov/juno and https://missionjuno.swri.edu. For more about this finding and other science results, see https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/science-findings.
Image credit:
Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Image processing by Gerald Eichstädt
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NASA Names First Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Monday named David Salvagnini as the agency’s new chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer, effective immediately. The role is an expansion of Salvagnini’s current role as chief data officer.
A wide variety of AI tools are used by NASA to benefit humanity from supporting missions and research projects across the agency, analyzing data to reveal trends and patterns, and developing systems capable of supporting spacecraft and aircraft autonomously.
“Artificial intelligence has been safely used at NASA for decades, and as this technology expands, it can accelerate the pace of discovery,” said Nelson. “It’s important that we remain at the forefront of advancement and responsible use. In this new role, David will lead NASA’s efforts to guide our agency’s responsible use of AI in the cosmos and on Earth to benefit all humanity.”
This appointment is in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. Salvagnini now is responsible for aligning the strategic vision and planning for AI usage across NASA. He serves as a champion for AI innovation, supporting the development and risk management of tools, platforms, and training.
In his expanded capacity, Salvagnini will continue NASA’s collaboration with other government agencies, academic institutions, industry partners, and other experts to ensure the agency is on the cutting edge of AI technology.
Salvagnini joined NASA in June 2023 after more than 20 years working in technology leadership in the intelligence community. Prior to his role at NASA, he served the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as director of the architecture and integration group and chief architect.
Salvagnini also worked in a variety of roles leading enterprise level IT research and development, engineering, and operations advancing data, IT, and artificial intelligence programs. David served in the Air Force for 21 years, retiring in May 2005 as a communications and computer systems officer.
NASA continues developing recommendations on leveraging emerging AI technology to best serve our goals and missions, from sifting through Earth science imagery to identifying areas of interest, to searching for data on planets outside our solar system from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, scheduling communications from the Perseverance Mars rover through the Deep Space Network, and more.
Prior to Salvagnini’s appointment, the agency’s Chief Scientist Kate Calvin served as NASA’s acting responsible AI official.
Learn more about artificial intelligence at NASA at:
https://www.nasa.gov/artificial-intelligence
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Faith McKie / Jennifer Dooren
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov
'A Quiet Place: Day One' trailer reveals why Earth went silent after alien invasion (video)
Edible gel prevents and treats alcohol intoxication in mice
Edible gel prevents and treats alcohol intoxication in mice
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Did humans evolve to chase down prey over long distances?
Johnson Celebrates AA and NHPI Heritage Month: Meet Hemanth Koralla
Hemanth Koralla was working as a software developer for General Motors when he received a LinkedIn message inviting him to apply for a NASA contract position with Jacobs Technology. While unexpected, Koralla seized the opportunity. “You can’t say no to NASA!”
Koralla has spent the last two years helping to develop the Vehicle System Manager (VSM) for Gateway, NASA’s lunar space station. The VSM is vehicle-level software that will allow the station’s different components to communicate with each other and enable both human-directed and autonomous operations. Much of Koralla’s work involves designing prototypes for software that can build Gateway’s autonomous capabilities. He is also part of a design support team that works to “unblock problems” for the VSM team and provide help wherever it is needed.
Hemanth Koralla addresses the audience at Johnson Space Center’s Asians Succeeding in Innovation and Aerospace (ASIA) Employee Resource Group (ERG) Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) Heritage Month festival in 2023.NASA/Josh Valcarcel
Reflecting on his favorite NASA experiences to date, Koralla declared the community at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to be “much more exciting” than in his previous positions, citing his opportunity to don Cosmo’s inflatable mascot suit for an Artemis I launch event as one example. “I just love how these emails go out asking, who wants to be a part of this? I said, yes, I’m going to do that, and then I just showed up and got to be Cosmo and take pictures with people. I didn’t expect to do that, and it was a really fun experience,” he said.
Koralla has also enjoyed helping to organize the Engineering Directorate’s annual employee picnics, in part because they have allowed him to meet colleagues from across the entire organization. His involvement in the planning created other opportunities, as well. “As a thank you, they invited us to the OSIRIS-REx sample reveal,” he said. “It’s those moments that you step back and realize, wow, we’re working on something really cool here.”
Koralla got active in the ASIA Employee Resource Group (ERG) shortly after arriving at Johnson in 2022, when the chair asked him to join as a cohort member and to help lead the group’s social activities. He was elected as the ERG’s recording secretary for 2023. In that role, Koralla continued to play an important part in the group’s events – including its AA and NHPI Heritage Month festival. He was particularly inspired by NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, whom he got to introduce as the festival’s emcee, and the performers who helped celebrate diversity at Johnson.
Hemanth Koralla (third from left) poses with ASIA ERG board members and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim during the group’s AA and NHPI Heritage Month festival. NASA/Josh Valcarcel
Koralla observed that the festival and other ASIA ERG events help spread cultural awareness, noting, as an example, that he did not know Nowruz was a holiday until the ERG organized a related celebration. An Iftar dinner, the fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan, was another opportunity to engage with Johnson team members. “There’s such a big community at NASA that this opens the door for them to meet each other as well,” he said.
Meeting diverse Johnson colleagues and building connections through the ERG has given Koralla a better picture of NASA’s full scope of work.
Outside of the ERG, Koralla tries to support diversity and inclusion by making sure everyone’s voice is heard. “We do these deep dives where we try to work out a design for something in six to eight weeks. I definitely notice that people who are earlier in their career have a tougher time speaking up, which I can relate to because I’ve been in that situation. In those moments I try to say, let’s see what everyone in the room is thinking.”
He appreciates being part of a team that values the sharing of experiences and cultures, as well. “We have created a nice open space where we can talk openly about a lot of things and ask questions without any fear of judgment,” he said, noting that he and his teammates have many conversations about their respective cultures.
Koralla also points to the uniting power of food. “We had a Thanksgiving lunch last year, and most team members brought in typical Thanksgiving food. I didn’t grow up with that American tradition, so I brought in some Indian food instead,” he said. “It was a nice cultural sharing moment. Everyone bonds over food.”
Lego rolls out details about Apollo lunar rover model coming in August
These Rocks Formed in an Ancient Lake on Mars
We already know that water has existed on the surface of Mars but for how long? Curiosity has been searching for evidence for the long term presence of water on Mars and now, a team of researchers think they have found it. The rover has been exploring the Gale Crater and found it contains high concentrations of Manganese. The mineral doesn’t form easily on Mars so the team think it may have formed as deposits in an ancient lake. It is interesting too that life on Earth helps the formation of Manganese so its presence on Mars is a mystery.
The Mars Curiosity Rover was launched in November 2011. It arrived on 6 August 2012 in the Gale Crater region of Mars. It’s purpose was to explore the geology of the area, climatic conditions and the potential for habitability for future explorers. We have seen stunning images from the surface of Mars thanks to Curiosity and our understanding of Mars both past and present has been improved as a result of its work.
New simulations are helping inform the Curiosity rover’s ongoing sampling campaign. Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSA paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research : Planets has reported on findings using the ChemCam instrument on board Curiosity. The paper’s lead author Patrick Gasda from the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Space Science and Application group announced the findings of high levels of manganese in rocks from the base of the crater. It is thought that the Gale Crater is an ancient lake so this poses interesting questions as to its origin.
On Earth, biological processes are fundamental to the formation of materials like manganese oxide with photosynthesis producing atmospheric oxygen. There are also microbes that act as a catalyst to the oxidisation of manganese. The problem is that there is no such sign other life on Mars so the process that led to the formation of oxygen in the ancient Martian atmosphere is unclear. If we cannot understand the formation of oxygen, then we struggle to understand how manganese oxide might form. Perhaps something relating to large bodies of surface water could be responsible.
The ChemCam instrument on Curiosity uses a laser to generate small amounts of plasma on the surface of Martian rocks. Light is then collected to enable the composition of the rock to be identified. The team studied sand, silts and muds, the former being more porous than the latter. The majority of the manganese found in the sands is thought to have been the result of ground water percolation. On Earth the manganese is oxidised by atmospheric oxygen in a process that is accelerated by microbes.
We still don’t have all the answers but but the study has revealed yet again, to an environment that was once suitable for life. That environment seems similar to many places on Earth that also display rich manganese deposits.
Source : New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Marsh
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