Does the Universe Have a Handedness?

dc.creatorLongo, Michael J.
dc.date2008-12-18
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:20:14Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:20:14Z
dc.descriptionIn this article I extend an earlier study of spiral galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to investigate whether the universe has an overall handedness. A preference for spiral galaxies in one sector of the sky to be left-handed or right-handed spirals would indicate a parity-violating asymmetry in the overall universe and a preferred axis. The previous study used 2616 spiral galaxies with redshifts <0.04 and identified handedness. The new study uses 15872 with redshifts <0.085 and obtains very similar results to the first with a signal exceeding 5 sigma, corresponding to a probability of 2.5x10-7 for occurring by chance. The axis of the dipole asymmetry lies at approx. (l, b) =(32d,69d), roughly along that of our Galaxy and close to the so-called "Axis of Evil".
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0812.3437
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0812.3437
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/213011
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDoes the Universe Have a Handedness?
dc.typetext

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