Queen Mary Astronomy Unit research on the properties of the Universe featured in New Scientist
Research from members of Queen Mary's Astronomy Unit on long-held assumptions about the Universe have been featured in an article from the New Scientist magazine.
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Our surprisingly lumpy universe. NASA, ESA, IPAC/Caltech, STScI, Arizona State University
The New Scientist story covers some recent work by members of the Queen Mary Astronomy Unit (Drs Tim Clifton and Asta Heinesen), on the subject of testing the assumptions of large-scale homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe, and which builds on some of the original work of the Unit's Director (Prof. Chris Clarkson). These assumptions are the starting point for most studies of cosmological physics, but have yet to be proven observationally, as near-isotropy of any single observable does not necessarily mean that the space and time of the universe itself is close to a global isotropic and homogeneous space-time.
These researchers have developed ways of testing these principles (here and here), which have recently become the subject of real astronomical tests, as performed by Dr Heinesen and Dr Koksbang (from SDU, in Denmark). Their work (here and here) suggests there may be evidence that the Universe is more complicated than previously thought, which (if true) would open the door to a lot of new and interesting possibilities in cosmology. As New Scientist reports, it would mean that a "100-year-old assumption about the universe may soon be overturned".
Read the full article here.