For centuries, humans have sought to understand how the universe began. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris are proposing new ways to peer further back than ever before-toward the first instants following the Big Bang.
Physicists Leo Stodolsky of MPP and Joseph Silk of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris have developed by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 21, 2025
For centuries, humans have sought to understand how the universe began. Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris are proposing new ways to peer further back than ever before-toward the first instants following the Big Bang.
Physicists Leo Stodolsky of MPP and Joseph Silk of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris have developed theoretical models suggesting that powerful bursts of energy in the very early cosmos could have left behind detectable signals still reaching Earth today. These hypothetical "cosmic explosions" may have occurred during the birth of "baby universes" or the formation of supermassive primordial black holes, producing penetrating particles capable of escaping the universe's earliest opaque phase.
Because the first 380,000 years of the universe are hidden behind an impenetrable curtain of plasma, direct observation of those epochs is impossible. The earliest currently visible radiation-the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)-dates from that later period. However, Stodolsky and Silk suggest that new types of signals may have passed through that cosmic veil, providing unprecedented access to the universe's first moments.
Their study explores three potential pathways to detect such signals. Two involve neutrinos-ghostly particles produced in high-energy environments and capable of traversing vast distances without interaction.
A faint x-ray echo
In one proposed mechanism, early-universe neutrinos would lose energy over cosmic time, generating positrons that annihilate with electrons to release low-energy x-rays. These redshifted emissions could appear today as a subtle, soft x-ray signal across the sky. Detecting this faint trace would require extremely sensitive instruments and long-duration surveys to distinguish it from background noise.
A new neutrino background
The researchers also predict a second potential signature: a relic background of low-energy neutrinos originating from early cosmic bursts. These particles, now traveling through space with exceedingly low energies, could carry direct information from epochs preceding the formation of atoms. Detecting them, however, remains beyond current technological capability.
Microwave hot spots
A third observational clue might lie in subtle irregularities-or "hot spots"-in the CMB. These tiny regions with slightly different energy spectra could mark locations of primordial explosions. Identifying them will demand ultra-high-resolution mapping and sophisticated statistical techniques, extending the work begun by missions such as ESA's Planck satellite.The researchers hope their framework will inspire new approaches in experimental astrophysics. If confirmed, these early-universe signals would provide an unprecedented glimpse into the physics of the Big Bang itself-revealing how the first particles and forces arose and transforming our understanding of cosmic origins.
Research Report:Signals of Bursts from the Very Early Universe
Research Report:Positron signal from the early Universe
Related Links
Max Planck Institute for Physics
Understanding Time and Space