The breakthrough forms part of three studies published by the university that it hopes will offer new insights into black holes, how they shaped the universe and the “cosmic architecture” they left behind.
The project also produced the “largest ever galactic-scale gravitational wave detector” and found evidence of a background of gravitational waves that could help unlock “major mysteries of the universe”.
Dr Matt Miles, the lead author for two of the papers, said the research opens “new pathways for understanding the universe that we live in”.
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“Studying the background lets us tune into the echoes of cosmic events across billions of years,” he said. “It reveals how galaxies, and the universe itself, have evolved over time.”
The first key finding revealed new evidence of gravitational wave signals originating from merging supermassive black holes, capturing a signal stronger than similar global experiments, and in just one-third of the time.
“What we’re seeing hints at a much more dynamic and active universe than we anticipated,” Dr Miles said. “We know supermassive black holes are out there merging, but now we’re starting to ask: where are they, and how many are out there?”
A second key accomplishment was constructing a highly detailed gravitational wave map that revealed an unexpected hotspot in the signal that “suggests a possible directional bias”.
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“The presence of a hotspot could suggest a distinct gravitational wave source, such as a pair of black holes billions of times the mass of our sun,” said Rowina Nathan, a lead author for the remaining study.
“Looking at the layout and patterns of gravitational waves shows us how our universe exists today and contains signals from as far back as the Big Bang. There’s more work to do to determine the significance of the hotspot we found, but this an exciting step forward for our field.”
The researchers used the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa to observe pulsars and time them to nanosecond precision.
Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the first pulsar – better known as rapidly spinning neutron stars – in 1967, but today, they can allow scientists to detect minuscule changes caused by passing gravitational waves.
“This galactic-scale detector has provided an opportunity to map gravitational waves across the sky, revealing patterns and variations that challenge previous assumptions,” Swinburne said.
Nathan argued that it’s often assumed that the gravitational wave background will be evenly distributed across the sky.
“However, the galactic-sized gravitational wave detector formed by the MeerKAT pulsar timing array has allowed us to map the structure of this signal with unprecedented precision, which may reveal insights about its source,” she said.
Swinburne hopes these measurements can open up new questions about the formation of massive black holes and even the early history of the universe.
“Continued observations with the MeerKAT array will refine these gravitational wave maps and may uncover new, previously hidden cosmic phenomena,” added Swinburne.
“The research also holds broad implications, offering data that could help scientists better understand the origins and evolution of supermassive black holes, the formation of galaxy structures, and potentially even the earliest events in the universe’s history.”
It comes after Space Connect reported last year how Australian scientists using the Murriyang radio telescope in NSW found the strongest evidence yet for low-frequency gravitational waves.
The work by Dr Daniel Reardon and Dr Andrew Zic helped back up Einstein’s theory that space-time is a four-dimensional fabric that can be affected by events such as exploding stars and merging black holes.
The 64-metre Murriyang telescope, outside the central-west NSW town of Parkes, has been in operation since 1961. It operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year and is operated by CSIRO, the Australian government agency responsible for scientific research.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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