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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Scientists Discover a New Way to Explore the Universe's First Billion Years

The Universe is around 13.8 billion years old, but scientists still know very little about its earliest years. One of the biggest mysteries is what happened when the first stars and galaxies formed. This period, known as Cosmic Dawn, began a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. It was during this time that the first stars lit up the dark Universe and started changing everything around them.

Now, a new study by Cruz and his team has introduced an exciting way to study this mysterious period. The researchers found that two different types of ancient cosmic patterns are hidden inside a faint radio signal coming from hydrogen gas. By studying both patterns together, scientists can measure how the Universe expanded in its early years and also learn how the first stars were born.

A Special Signal from Ancient Hydrogen

After the Big Bang, the Universe was mostly filled with neutral hydrogen gas. Before stars and galaxies existed, this gas covered almost the entire Universe.

Hydrogen naturally produces a very weak radio signal called the 21-centimeter (21-cm) signal. Although this signal is extremely faint, it has traveled across space for more than 13 billion years. By observing it today, scientists can look back in time and study the Universe when it was still very young.

Unlike visible light, which is difficult to detect from the first galaxies, the 21-cm signal can reveal what happened during Cosmic Dawn, making it one of the best tools for exploring the early Universe.

How the First Stars Formed

The first stars did not appear everywhere at the same time.

Some regions of the Universe had slightly more matter than others. These dense regions pulled in even more material through gravity, eventually forming clouds of gas where the first stars and galaxies were created.

But there was another important effect happening at the same time.

In the early Universe, ordinary matter and dark matter were moving at different speeds. This created fast-moving flows of gas, known as streaming velocities.

These fast motions made it harder for gas to collect inside small galaxies. In many places, they slowed down or even prevented star formation.

So, two forces were working against each other:

  • More matter helped stars form.

  • Fast-moving gas slowed star formation.

The balance between these two effects shaped where the first stars appeared.

The Universe's Ancient Sound Waves

Long before the first stars formed, the Universe was filled with hot gas.

Tiny sound waves traveled through this hot plasma. When the Universe cooled enough for atoms to form, these sound waves became frozen into the distribution of matter.

Today, scientists call these ancient patterns Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs).

BAOs work like a giant cosmic ruler. By measuring their size, astronomers can calculate how much the Universe has expanded over billions of years.

BAOs have already become one of the most important tools in modern cosmology.

Scientists Found Another Hidden Pattern

The new research shows that BAOs are not the only important pattern left over from the early Universe.

The different speeds between ordinary matter and dark matter also created another pattern called Velocity-Induced Acoustic Oscillations (VAOs).

Like BAOs, VAOs also appear in the 21-cm signal.

However, they are produced by a different physical process. Instead of being created by matter alone, they come from the movement of gas in the early Universe.

This means the 21-cm signal actually contains two different cosmic rulers instead of one.

Why This Discovery Matters

At first, scientists thought BAOs would be enough to study the early Universe.

But Cruz and his team discovered that BAOs and VAOs are not exactly the same.

Their peaks and valleys are slightly shifted from each other.

This difference is very small—only about 1%—but it becomes important when making highly accurate measurements of the Universe.

The researchers found that if astronomers ignore VAOs and study only BAOs, they could calculate the expansion rate of the Universe incorrectly by about 2%.

That may sound like a tiny mistake, but in modern astronomy, even a 1% error can lead to incorrect conclusions about the history and future of the Universe.

A New Way to Separate Both Signals

To solve this problem, the researchers created a new mathematical method that separates BAOs and VAOs inside the 21-cm signal.

This is the first time scientists have been able to clearly identify both patterns individually.

Once separated, each pattern provides different information.

BAOs mainly tell scientists about the expansion of the Universe.

VAOs reveal how the first stars and galaxies formed and how gas moved through the early cosmos.

Together, they provide a much clearer picture of Cosmic Dawn.

The Patterns Change Over Time

Another exciting discovery is that BAOs and VAOs do not remain equally strong throughout Cosmic Dawn.

At the very beginning, streaming velocities had a powerful effect, so VAOs dominated the signal.

As time passed, galaxies became larger and gravity became stronger.

Eventually, the influence of streaming velocities became weaker, allowing BAOs to become the dominant pattern.

The researchers also found that VAOs almost disappear for a short period when the first stars begin heating the surrounding hydrogen gas.

This changing behavior can help scientists understand exactly when different events happened during the birth of the first galaxies.

Future Telescopes Will Test the Theory

The researchers also studied whether future telescopes could detect these two patterns.

Their main focus was the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which is currently being built and will become the world's largest radio telescope.

According to the study, SKA should be able to detect the combined BAO and VAO signal from Cosmic Dawn.

With high-quality observations, scientists may even be able to separate the two signals completely.

This would allow astronomers to make much more accurate measurements of the Universe than ever before.

There Are Still Challenges

Although the results are very promising, the researchers say more work is needed.

Many processes could affect the strength of the 21-cm signal.

For example, powerful radiation from young stars, bursts of star formation, and the behavior of gas inside early galaxies may all influence the final observations.

Scientists will need better computer models and future observations to fully understand these effects.

Data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and future radio telescopes will help improve these models.

A New Window into Cosmic History

The first billion years after the Big Bang remain one of the least understood periods in the history of the Universe.

The new study by Cruz and his team gives scientists a powerful new tool for exploring this mysterious era.

By separating BAOs and VAOs in the ancient 21-cm signal, researchers can study both the expansion of the Universe and the birth of the first stars with greater accuracy than ever before.

As powerful telescopes like the Square Kilometre Array begin observing the ancient radio signal in the coming years, astronomers hope to uncover many more secrets about how the first galaxies formed and how the Universe evolved into the vast cosmos we see today.

This breakthrough could mark the beginning of a new chapter in our understanding of the Universe's earliest history.

Reference: Hector Afonso G. Cruz, Gabriele Montefalcone, Julian B. Muñoz, Ely D. Kovetz, Alessandra Venditti, "The Rise and Fall of Acoustic Oscillations at Cosmic Dawn", Arxiv, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.09846

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