In the realm of cosmological research, a team of scientists from various institutions, including the University of São Paulo, the University of Science and Technology of China, and the National Observatory in Brazil, has been exploring innovative methods to probe the large-scale structure of the universe and its accelerated expansion. Their work, led by Pablo Motta and Camila P. Novaes, focuses on the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations (BINGO) project, which aims to leverage the emerging technique of neutral hydrogen (HI) intensity mapping (IM).
The BINGO project is pioneering the use of HI IM, a novel approach that builds on the success of optical redshift surveys. This technique offers a unique way to investigate the growth of large-scale structures and the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe. The researchers have simulated the HI IM signal using a lognormal model, incorporating three dominant systematics: foreground residuals, thermal noise, and beam resolution effects. By employing Bayesian inference, they derived joint constraints on six cosmological parameters and 60 HI parameters across 30 frequency channels.
The study demonstrates that combining BINGO’s Phase 1 configuration with the Planck 2018 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) dataset significantly improves the precision of cosmological parameter estimation. The combined data tightens the confidence regions of these parameters to about 40% of the size of those derived from the Planck data alone. This enhancement is crucial for refining our understanding of the universe’s composition and evolution.
Moreover, BINGO’s data provides valuable insights into the redshift evolution of HI density and delivers competitive measurements of the dark energy equation of state parameters (w0 and wa). These findings highlight BINGO’s potential to extract significant cosmological information from the HI distribution, offering constraints that are competitive with current and future cosmological surveys.
For the energy sector, understanding the large-scale structure and evolution of the universe can have indirect implications. For instance, improving our knowledge of dark energy and the universe’s expansion rate can refine models of cosmic evolution, which in turn can inform long-term energy planning and resource management. Additionally, the techniques developed for HI IM could potentially be adapted for other large-scale observational projects, enhancing our ability to monitor and predict cosmic phenomena that might impact Earth’s energy systems.
The research was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, contributing to the ongoing efforts to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos and its implications for various scientific and industrial sectors.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.