A giant ring-like structure at 0.78 < z < 0.86 displayed by GRBs

Balázs, Lajos and Bagoly, Zsolt and Hakkila, J. E. and Horváth, István and Kóbori, József and Rácz, István and Tóth, László Viktor (2015) A giant ring-like structure at 0.78 < z < 0.86 displayed by GRBs. MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 452 (3). pp. 2236-2246. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

According to the cosmological principle, Universal large-scale structure is homoge- neous and isotropic. The observable Universe, however, shows complex structures even on very large scales. The recent discoveries of structures significantly exceeding the transition scale of 370 Mpc pose a challenge to the cosmological principle. We report here the discovery of the largest regular formation in the observable Universe; a ring with a diameter of 1720 Mpc, displayed by 9 gamma ray bursts (GRBs), exceeding by a factor of five the transition scale to the homogeneous and isotropic distribution. The ring has a major diameter of 43o and a minor diameter of 30o at a distance of 2770 Mpc in the 0.78 < z < 0.86 redshift range, with a probability of 2 × 10−6 of being the result of a random fluctuation in the GRB count rate. Evidence suggests that this feature is the projection of a shell onto the plane of the sky. Voids and string-like formations are common outcomes of large-scale structure. However, these structures have maximum sizes of 150 Mpc, which are an order of magnitude smaller than the observed GRB ring diameter. Evidence in support of the shell interpretation requires that temporal information of the transient GRBs be included in the analysis. This ring-shaped feature is large enough to contradict the cosmological principle. The physical mechanism responsible for causing it is unknown.

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