How a 2 Billion Light-Year Photon Defied Einstein’s Limits
A high-energy photon from the gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A, nicknamed 'the BOAT,' traveled over two billion light-years to reach Earth, defying standard physics. Detected in 2022 by the Carpet detector in Russia, this photon should have been absorbed by the cosmic microwave background. New research from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics proposes a theoretical explanation for its survival, resolving a long-standing anomaly in astrophysics.