[CHIME Telescope Unveils Self-Consistent Method for Mapping the Universe’s Accelerated Expansion]
Scientists now possess a powerful new tool for mapping the universe’s enigmatic accelerated expansion.
A network of Canadian radio telescopes, primarily situated near Penticton, British Columbia—the Australian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)—has demonstrated for the first time that it can map the distribution of ancient hydrogen gas using solely its own observational data, independently of supplementary instruments. The validation required seven rigorous years of work, yet the potential implications are significant.
According to the authors of a new study published Monday (Sept. 28) in The Astrophysical Journal, the telescope offers scientists a novel, cost‑effective pathway to investigate dark energy—the elusive force driving the universe’s accelerating expansion over time.
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“Hydrogen constitutes the most abundant element in the cosmos and serves as the fundamental building block for star formation,” stated study co‑author Arnab Chakraborty, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto. “Its faint radio emission functions as a cosmic tracer, illuminating how matter is dispersed throughout space.”
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) comprises a suite of radio telescopes that scan the entire northern sky each night. Prior to these findings, CHIME relied on cross‑calibrating its data with auxiliary observatories—a protracted and resource‑intensive endeavor. Now, thanks to the new methodology, confirmation rests entirely on CHIME’s independent measurements.
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Ensuring the observed phenomenon was genuine was paramount for CHIME. By focusing exclusively on primordial hydrogen from deep cosmic epochs, the team secured an uncontaminated benchmark against external datasets—a move critical for reliable interpretation. The manuscript, crafted across nearly a decade of effort, draws upon 94 consecutive nights of 2019 observations that underwent exhaustive verification prior to submission. Capable of detecting radio signals extending back three billion years after the Big Bang, when the cosmos was merely a fraction of its present age, CHIME’s reach encompasses epochical conditions difficult to replicate elsewhere.
“We devoted considerable effort to rule out spurious signals,” Chakraborty remarked. “Following extensive testing, the originality of the detection persisted. This certainty confidently indicates that genuine hydrogen emissions emanate from distant regions of the universe.”
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A companion paper released in The Astrophysical Journal expands on the spatial distribution of hydrogen within the cosmos. Preliminary analyses suggest roughly two percent of hydrogen exists in a “neutrally atomic” state—too balanced of positive protons and negative electrons to carry net charge—and such a finding aligns broadly with concurrent measurements from other facilities, noted Shabbir Shaikh, a postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University who contributed to both publications.
Mappeings of this ubiquitous gas may unlock new insights into cosmic evolution across diverse temporal scales. Looking ahead, the team envisions leveraging the full seven‑year dataset from CHIME to refine hydrogen‑rich diagnostics and deepen understanding of the universe’s large‑scale structure.
Amiri, M., Bandura, K., Chakraborty, A., Cliche, J., Dobbs, M., Foreman, S., Gray, L., Halpern, M., Hill, A. S., Hinshaw, G., Höfer, C., Joseph, A., Kruger, N., Landecker, T. L., Van Lieshout, R., MacEachern, J., Masui, K. W., Mena-Parra, J., Miller, K., . . . Wulf, D. (2026). Detection of the Cosmological 21 cm Signal in Autocorrelation at z ∼ 1 with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment. The Astrophysical Journal, 1009(2), 159.
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