Researchers working in Antarctica have detected mysterious radio waves emanating from deep within the ice, according to a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
This surprising discovery came from the ANITA experiment, which typically aims to monitor cosmic particles using balloons carrying advanced instruments to altitudes of up to 40 kilometers above the surface of the ice.
Professor Stephanie Wessel, an astrophysicist at Pennsylvania State University, explained that the team was searching for massless neutrinos, which are rare windows into understanding distant cosmic events.
But the surprise was the discovery of powerful radio signals emitted at sharp angles of up to 30 degrees beneath the surface of the ice, a phenomenon that contradicts conventional physics.
"These waves were supposed to be absorbed by rocks after traveling thousands of kilometers, but we clearly detected them," Wessel added.
Antarctica is considered an ideal location for such experiments due to the lack of radio interference, but this discovery raises more questions than it answers.
After comparing the results with two independent experiments, the researchers ruled out the possibility that the signals were emitted by neutrinos, leading them to speculate that they might be linked to the mysterious "dark matter," which makes up 27% of the visible universe.
However, Wessel stresses that the team still has several possible explanations, including unknown phenomena of radio wave propagation near the ice layers.
It is worth noting that neutrinos, despite trillions of them passing through our bodies every second, remain among the most difficult particles to detect due to their weak interaction with matter.
But when observed, they could carry information about distant cosmic events beyond the reach of even the most powerful telescopes, making this puzzling discovery an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the mysteries of the universe.
