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Arxiv: Galaxy spin direction asymmetry in JWST deep fields Published: 3/26/2024 1:32:34 AM Updated: 3/26/2024 1:32:34 AM

Paper abstract: The unprecedented imaging power of JWST provides new abilities to observe theshapes of objects in the early Universe in a way that has not been possiblebefore. Recently, JWST acquired a deep field image inside the same field imagedin the past as the HST Ultra Deep Field. Computer-based quantitative analysisof spiral galaxies in that field shows that among 34 galaxies for which theirrotation of direction can be determined by the shapes of the arms, 24 rotateclockwise, and just 10 rotate counterclockwise. The one-tailed binomialdistribution probability to have asymmetry equal or stronger than the observedasymmetry by chance is ~0.012. While the analysis is limited by the smallsize of the data, the observed asymmetry is aligned with all relevant previouslarge-scale analyses from all premier digital sky surveys, all show a highernumber of galaxies rotating clockwise in that part of the sky, and themagnitude of the asymmetry increases as the redshift gets higher. This paperalso provides data and analysis to reproduce previous experiments suggestingthat the distribution of galaxy rotation in the Universe is random, to showthat the exact same data used in these studies in fact show non-randomdistribution, and in excellent agreement with the results shown here. Thesefindings reinforce consideration of the possibility that the directions ofrotation of spiral galaxies as observed from Earth are not necessarily randomlydistributed. The explanation can be related to the large-scale structure of theUniverse, but can also be related to a possible anomaly in the physics ofgalaxy rotation.