Far out cosmology: cosmic filaments spin (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 21:20 (1038 days ago) @ David Turell

Everything in the universe spins:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dark-matter-cosmic-filaments-biggest-spinning-objec...

"Moons do it, stars do it, even whole galaxies do it. Now, two teams of scientists say cosmic filaments do it, too. These tendrils stretching hundreds of millions of light-years spin, twirling like giant corkscrews.

"Cosmic filaments are the universe’s largest known structures and contain most of the universe’s mass (SN: 1/20/14). These dense, slender strands of dark matter and galaxies connect the cosmic web, channeling matter toward galaxy clusters at each strand’s end (SN: 7/5/12).

"At the instant of the Big Bang, matter didn’t rotate; then, as stars and galaxies formed, they began to spin. Until now, galaxy clusters were the largest structures known to rotate. “Conventional thinking on the subject said that’s where spin ends. You can’t really generate torques on larger scales,” says Noam Libeskind, cosmologist at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam in Germany.

"So the discovery that filaments spin — at a scale that makes galaxies look like specks of dust — presents a puzzle. “We don’t have a full theory of how every galaxy comes to rotate, or every filament comes to rotate,” says Mark Neyrinck, cosmologist at University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain.

***

"The two teams detected similar rotational velocities for filaments despite differing approaches, Neyrinck says, an “encouraging [indication] that we’re looking at the same thing.”

"Next, researchers want to tackle what makes these giant space structures spin, and how they get started. “What is that process?” Libeskind says. “Can we figure it out?'”

Comment: At least the cosmologists are like dhw, who wants to know why God so many strange things in making the universe. They will find a cause and probably a reason. God knows what He is doing even if dhw doesn't think so. For life the Earth's rotation seems necessary.