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Defect Suspected in Fabric of Space-Time
Space.com ^ | 25 October 2007 | By Ker Than

Posted on 10/25/2007 5:34:21 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy

An enormous cold spot in our universe could be explained by a cosmic defect in the fabric of space-time created shortly after the Big Bang, scientists say.

If confirmed by future studies, the finding, detailed in the Oct. 25 issue of the journal Science, could provide cosmologists with a long-sought clue about how the infant universe evolved.

But other scientists, and even members of the study team, are skeptical of the new claim.

Cosmic ice cubes

Scientists think that shortly after the Big Bang, as the universe cooled and expanded, exotic particles transformed into the particles we know today via phase transitions similar to the gas-liquid-solid transitions that matter now experiences on Earth.

And like phase transitions on Earth, defects inevitably occur. When water crystallizes to ice, for example, cloudy spots appear in the ice that mark where water molecules are misaligned. Physicists predict that similar defects happened during the phase transitions of the early universe, and that the defects took different forms.

The team thinks a cold spot in the cosmic microwave background (CMB)—an energy artifact of the Big Bang that has been detected and mapped by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotopy Probe (WMAP) satellite—represents the most complex kind of cosmic defect, a 3-D blob-like structure called a texture.

Marcos Cruz of the Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria in Spain and colleagues analyzed the CMB cold spot, which spans 1 billion light-years across, finding it had properties consistent with a texture.

"The cosmic microwave background is the most ancient image we have of the universe, and therefore it's one of the most valuable tools to understand the universe's origins," Cruz said. "If this spot is a texture, it would allow us to discriminate among different theories that have been proposed for how the universe evolved."

'Not compelling'

Other scientists say the team's case for a cosmic defect is still weak. "It would be spectacular, and a new handle on the early universe, if this cold spot turned out to be a texture as opposed to a random fluctuation, which is perhaps a more likely explanation," said Lyman Page, a WMAP team member at Princeton University who was not involved in the study.

Liliya Williams and Lawrence Rudnick, astronomers at the University of Minnesota, recently attributed the CMB cold spot not to a cosmic defect, but to an enormous "hole" in our galaxy, devoid of stars, gas and even dark matter, a mysterious substance thought to pervade the universe but which has so far eluded direct detection.

A "cosmic defect is an intriguing and plausible explanation. However, I don't think one can dismiss a void as the cause of the CMB cold spot," Williams said in an e-mail interview. "Whatever the correct interpretation will turn out to be, it is bound to open a new window on the early universe, but what we'll see through that window is still not clear."

Study team member Neil Turok of the University of Cambridge admits his team's case is "not at all compelling" at the moment. The cold spot could be a texture, but there is a 1 percent probability it is just a random temperature fluctuation in the CMB.

"What makes this so interesting is that there are a number of follow-up checks, which can now be done," Turok said. "So the texture hypothesis is actually very testable."

A cosmic texture would cause light passing through it to bend and point in certain ways that should be detectable by future space missions, Turok said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: astronomy; freepun; science; space; stringtheory
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

Whoops...Seems you posted this to do that!

LOL!

Have fun!


21 posted on 10/25/2007 5:53:46 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

So we fix the defect and Ice-9 the universe. Sweet.


22 posted on 10/25/2007 5:53:57 PM PDT by printhead
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

Perhaps it’s not so much a spot as a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey ...stuff.


23 posted on 10/25/2007 5:56:41 PM PDT by Redcloak (The 2nd Amendment isn't about sporting goods.)
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To: dragnet2
Why is it science threads on this site are almost immediately mocked, and plastered with childish images?

The pranksters serve the purpose of bumping threads often enough that the serious posters eventually find it.

FreeRepublic is made up of folks from rocket scientists to village idiots, from theologians to hedonists. Somehow we keep the whole tribe happy enough to stick around and contribute.

24 posted on 10/25/2007 6:00:05 PM PDT by myprecious
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To: myprecious

Hey! I resemble that remark.


25 posted on 10/25/2007 6:03:48 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy (Those who beat their swords into plow shears will plow for those who don't.)
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To: dragnet2

Not that strange. Who’s qualified to talk about it seriously?


26 posted on 10/25/2007 6:04:42 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: dragnet2
Why is it science threads on this site are almost immediately mocked, and plastered with childish images?

Get a sense of humor. As for a serious comment, I want to know if these scientists confirmed their data. Why are they so certain that what they found is a distortion of the space-time continuum?

27 posted on 10/25/2007 6:05:23 PM PDT by Repeal 16-17 (Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

By the way, I love your tagline.


28 posted on 10/25/2007 6:11:35 PM PDT by myprecious
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To: Repeal 16-17; All

ok, somebody’s got to ask:
‘What about Uranus?’


29 posted on 10/25/2007 6:17:24 PM PDT by notdownwidems (Shellback, pollywogs! 1980)
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To: Dr.Zoidberg

...and I’m a busy Timelord!


30 posted on 10/25/2007 6:17:38 PM PDT by dr_who_2
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

31 posted on 10/25/2007 6:18:57 PM PDT by mirkwood (Snowe and Collins need to go. Rinos)
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


32 posted on 10/25/2007 6:19:36 PM PDT by Wheee The People (If Hillary wins in '08, your grandkids will be forced to speak Arabic.)
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

Eddies in the time-space continuum?


33 posted on 10/25/2007 6:20:56 PM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: dragnet2
It’s almost like these people are waiting for a science thread, and jump on it..Strange.

There are folks who excerpt science threads from FR, post them on another site, and mock the comments of Freepers. Think of it as providing entertainment for folks who are too insecure in their theology to come over here and debate.

34 posted on 10/25/2007 6:25:07 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: Nasty McPhilthy
Image hosted by Photobucket.com

35 posted on 10/25/2007 6:25:46 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist)
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To: notdownwidems

VISIT TO URANUS.

The next place that the distinguished travellers visited was Uranus, where Mr. Punch and his companion were much surprised to find the entire population members of the legal profession.

“I have really no time to attend to you,” said one of the inhabitants, when questioned. “I have an appointment before a Chief Clerk in Chancery of great importance—it is to decide whether some children shall be sent to school with money left to them by their grandfather, or if it shall be saved up until they come of age? It would be better for the children that they should be educated, from a layman’s point of view; but, then, this is a matter of law and not expediency.”

“And how will it go?”

“Oh, of course, against the children. I am their father, and appear for them. But the application is a good thing, although it’s sure to be unsuccessful—good for them, and good for me.”

www.classicistranieri.com/.../13244-h.htm

It’s too rich!


36 posted on 10/25/2007 6:28:24 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy (Those who beat their swords into plow shears will plow for those who don't.)
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To: Don Corleone; Darksheare
defect in the fabric of space-time

Bush’s fault????


I’m not too sure about that...

Darksheare! Have you been messing with the fabric of space-time?

37 posted on 10/25/2007 6:33:16 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: Nasty McPhilthy

What? Idiots are still trying to prop up the defunct Big Bang theory? Unbelievable. Things are worse than I thought.


38 posted on 10/25/2007 6:33:19 PM PDT by Seruzawa (Attila the Hun... wasn't he a liberal?)
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To: Nasty McPhilthy
Study team member Neil Turok of the University of Cambridge

Sounds suspiciously like a Vulcan agent -- I'd watch this guy...

39 posted on 10/25/2007 6:34:00 PM PDT by mikrofon (Space BUMP)
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To: Nasty McPhilthy
...a cosmic defect in the fabric of space-time...

This is what you get when you don't "Look for the Union Label!"

40 posted on 10/25/2007 6:35:38 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Jet noise. The Sound of Freedom. - Go Air Force!)
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