A University of Chicago-led collaboration spanning 30 institutions has produced the sharpest, clearest map of mass in the universe to date by measuring gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background, using data from the South Pole Telescope.

Researchers hope the map will help constrain neutrino properties, potentially enabling precise measurements of neutrino masses and their effect on the growth of cosmic structure.

Lead author Yuuki Omori called the map the deepest universe map with very low background noise, and the study was posted on arXiv on September 1, 2026.

The map provides a detailed view of how matter is distributed across the universe, offering insights into when and how stars and galaxies formed in the middle ages of cosmic history.

The data could aid in detecting primordial gravitational waves from the Big Bang, contributing to efforts to unify gravity with quantum physics, and it will be used to clean and interpret older data from the BICEP experiment.

The South Pole Telescope, stationed at NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, benefits from Antarctica’s clear skies to enable highly sensitive CMB observations, under a UChicago-led collaboration.