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CHIME has detected radio emission from neutral hydrogen across the universe at redshift about 1, a result that could give astronomers another way to study cosmic expansion and dark energy. The peer-reviewed measurement reports a 12.4σ detection from 94 observing nights. It demonstrates a way to measure the signal without relying on an external galaxy survey; it does not reveal what dark energy is or prove a particular explanation for it.
What did CHIME detect?
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Collaboration measured the statistical power spectrum of the cosmological 21 cm signal in autocorrelation. The peer-reviewed paper reports a 12.4σ detection using 94 observing nights. Its measurement covers 608.2–707.8 MHz, corresponding to redshifts 1.34–1.01, for wavenumbers 0.4–1.5 h Mpc⁻¹. The CHIME Collaboration’s 2026 paper also reports detections in sub-bands centered near redshifts 1.08 and 1.24, at 8.6σ and 9.1σ, respectively.
In this context, “autocorrelation” means the signal is measured from CHIME’s own data rather than by matching its observations to an external galaxy survey. That is an important demonstration of measurement capability, not evidence that intensity mapping can replace galaxy surveys in every application.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhat is the 21 cm signal?
Neutral atomic hydrogen emits radio waves at a characteristic wavelength of 21 centimeters. As the universe expands, that radiation is stretched to longer wavelengths, so the observed frequency can indicate how far back in cosmic history the signal originated.
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With intensity mapping, a telescope measures the combined emission from broad regions of the sky to trace how hydrogen—and, in turn, matter—is distributed. It does not need to identify each emitting galaxy individually. CHIME’s result is a statistical pattern in the signal’s power spectrum, not a radio message or a detection from one named galaxy.
How old is the signal?
“Nine-billion-year-old” is a popular shorthand for the stretch of cosmic history the observation looks back across. It does not mean the universe itself was nine billion years old when the radiation was emitted. The University of British Columbia’s October 9, 2026, release describes the universe at that epoch as about five billion years old. The radiation was emitted when the universe was much younger than it is now, then traveled across cosmic time before reaching CHIME.
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The release also quotes co-author Dr. Shabbir Shaikh, an Arizona State University postdoctoral fellow, saying the data indicate that roughly two per cent of hydrogen was in neutral atomic form at that time, broadly consistent with other measurements. That figure is an attributed interpretation of the observed epoch, not a count of hydrogen detected in one galaxy.
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Dark energy is the name given to whatever is driving the universe’s accelerated expansion; its physical nature remains unsettled. As the universe expands, the distribution of matter changes over time. Maps of neutral hydrogen at different redshifts can therefore help researchers study the growth of large-scale structure and the history of expansion.
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CHIME’s detection matters because it shows that a 21 cm intensity-mapping measurement can be made using the instrument’s data without depending on an external galaxy survey. That capability may contribute to future studies of expansion history and tests of dark-energy explanations. The paper’s abstract says the result briefly discusses a theoretical power-spectrum interpretation, with details deferred to a companion paper.
How did the team establish the detection?
The observations were collected in 2019, according to the University of British Columbia release. The team spent more than a year testing whether the apparent signal could instead come from radio-frequency interference, astrophysical radio foregrounds, or effects introduced by the telescope. The paper abstract describes improvements to interference detection and masking, achromatic beamforming, foreground filtering before time averaging, and validation tests.
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Co-author Dr. Arnab Chakraborty, a University of Toronto postdoctoral fellow, told the UBC release: “We worked very hard to convince ourselves that this wasn’t a false alarm,” The care matters because the cosmological signal is faint and must be distinguished from other radio emission and instrumental effects.
Does this prove what dark energy is?
No. CHIME detected a cosmological hydrogen signal and demonstrated a way to measure it. The result is not a direct detection of dark energy, a unique identification of its physical nature, or proof that one dark-energy model is correct. It provides a potential tool for gathering the kind of large-scale structure and expansion-history measurements that can inform future tests.
The companion article is titled “Interpretation of 21 cm Autopower Spectrum Measurement at z ∼ 1 by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment,” in The Astrophysical Journal, 1009(2), article 160. Its detailed model comparisons are not summarized here; the detection paper itself defers fuller theoretical interpretation to that companion study.
Quick Recap
Sources
- CHIME Collaboration, “Detection of the Cosmological 21 cm Signal in Autocorrelation at z ∼ 1 with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment,” The Astrophysical Journal 1009(2), article 159 (2026).
- University of British Columbia research release, “A 9-billion-year-old signal could help explain dark energy,” October 9, 2026.
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