************************
Posted on 03/16/2006 8:42:47 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-0668
Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(301) 286-7745
| March 16, 2006
|
|
| RELEASE: 06-097 |
|
Big bang physics describes how matter and energy developed over the last 13.7 billion years. WMAP's observation of the blanket of cool microwave radiation that permeates the universe shows patterns that mark the seeds of what grew into stars and galaxies. The patterns are tiny temperature differences within this extraordinarily uniform light. WMAP discerns temperature fluctuations at levels finer than a millionth of a degree.
WMAP can resolve features in the cosmic microwave background based on polarization, or the way light is changed by the environment through which it passes. For example, sunlight reflecting off of a shiny object is polarized. Comparing the brightness of broad features to compact features in the microwave background, or afterglow light, helps tell the story of the infant universe. One long-held prediction was the brightness would be the same for features of all sizes. In contrast, the simplest versions of inflation predict the relative brightness decreases as the features get small, a trend seen in the new data.
"This is brand new territory," said WMAP team member Lyman Page of Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. "The polarization data will become stronger as WMAP continues to observe the microwave background. WMAP's new results heighten the urgency of seeking out inflation's gravitational wave sign. If gravitational waves are seen in future measurements, that would be solid evidence for inflation."
With a richer temperature map and the new polarization map, WMAP data favor the simplest versions of inflation. Generically, inflation posits that, at the outset of the big bang, quantum fluctuations - short-lived bursts of energy at the subatomic level - were converted by the rapid inflationary expansion into fluctuations of matter that ultimately enabled stars and galaxies to form. The simplest versions of inflation predict that the largest-sized fluctuations will also be the strongest. The new results from WMAP favor this signature.
Inflation theory predicts that these same fluctuations also produced primordial gravitational waves whose distortion of space-time leaves a signature in the CMB polarization. This will be an important goal of future CMB measurements which, if found, would provide a stunning confirmation of inflation.
"Inflation was an amazing concept when it was first proposed 25 years ago, and now we can support it with real data," said WMAP team member Gary Hinshaw of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
WMAP, a partnership between Goddard and Princeton, was launched on June 30, 2001. The WMAP team includes researchers in U.S. and Canadian universities and institutes. For images and information on the Web about WMAP, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/wmap_pol.html
***********AN EXCERPT ********************
Scientists have gathered new evidence that supports the inflationary theory of expansion thanks new data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). The spacecraft has been making continuous observations of the cosmic background radiation; the afterglow of the Big Bang. These latest observations produced a map of the sky so detailed that scientists were able to trace how microscopic fluctuations in the primordial Universe were magnified in a trillionth of a second of rapid expansion to create the stars and galaxies we see today.
************************
ping!
"The longer WMAP observes, the more it reveals about how our universe grew from microscopic quantum fluctuations to the vast expanses of stars and galaxies we see today."
---
our universe grew from microscopic quantum fluctuations ..
what the heck are microscopic quantum fluctuations ? hmmmm
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec17.html
Quantum Fluctuations :
The fact that the Universe exists should not be a surprise in the context of what we know about quantum physics. The uncertainty and unpredictability of the quantum world is manifested in the fact that whatever can happen, does happen (this is often called the principle of totalitarianism, that if a quantum mechanical process is not strictly forbidden, then it must occur).
For example, radioactive decay occurs when two protons and two neutrons (an alpha particle) leap out of an atomic nuclei. Since the positions of the protons and neutrons is governed by the wave function, there is a small, but finite, probability that all four will quantum tunnel outside the nucleus, and therefore escape. The probability of this happening is small, but given enough time (tens of years) it will happen.
The same principles were probably in effect at the time of the Big Bang (although we can not test this hypothesis within our current framework of physics). But as such, the fluctuations in the quantum vacuum effectively guarantee that the Universe would come into existence.
Oh yeah,....now I understand......LOL!
Evidence for Universe Expansion Found
But I can't find a bigger picture .....
Again, no mention of Alan Guth, amazing.
Who's Alan Guth?
This graphic provided by NASA illustrates the idea that the expansion of the universe over most of it's history has been relatively gradual. The notion that a rapid period 'inflation' preceded the Big Bang expansion was first put forth 25 years ago. The new WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) observations favor specific inflation scenarios over other long held ideas. (AP Photo/NASA)
NASA's data center for Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) research.
http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/alan_guth.html
He is also known as the father of the 'inflationary theory of the Universe' for us nerds that follow this stuff.
Here's the caption info..
Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team
The expansion of the universe over most of it's history has been relatively gradual. The notion that a rapid period "inflation" preceded the Big Bang expansion was first put forth 25 years ago. The new WMAP observations favor specific inflation scenarios over other long held ideas.
WMAP data reveals that its contents include 4% atoms, the building blocks of stars and planets. Dark matter comprises 22% of the universe. This matter, different from atoms, does not emit or absorb light. It has only been detected indirectly by its gravity. 74% of the Universe, is composed of "dark energy", that acts as a sort of an anti-gravity. This energy, distinct from dark matter, is responsible for the present-day acceleration of the universal expansion.
Wild and crazy.....I'm gonna have wierd dreams tonight.
by Alan Guth, whose name by coincidence--GUTh--seems to say Grand Unified Theory.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.