Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Before the cosmic microwave background was released at recombination, the universe was an almost perfect blackbody machine, but not quite a perfect one. Energy injected into the photon bath at redshifts between about two million and fifty thousand cannot fully thermalise; it leaves a characteristic chemical-potential distortion of the spectrum, and later injections leave a Compton-y distortion instead. The headline computed values are: strongest finite f = 1.84e-04. The study is a computation from stated assumptions, not a measurement, and the deposited script reproduces every number quoted.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
William Alexander Aldred (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 8 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: