[Science] Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed

BDswangHTX · Mar 17, 2014

Scientists say they have extraordinary new evidence to support a Big Bang Theory for the origin of the Universe.

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26605974

Researchers believe they have found the signal left in the sky by the super-rapid expansion of space that must have occurred just fractions of a second after everything came into being.

It takes the form of a distinctive twist in the oldest light detectable with telescopes.

The work will be scrutinized carefully, but already there is talk of a Nobel.

"This is spectacular," commented Prof Marc Kamionkowski, from Johns Hopkins University.

"I've seen the research; the arguments are persuasive, and the scientists involved are among the most careful and conservative people I know," he told BBC News.

The breakthrough was announced by an American team working on a project known as BICEP2.

This has been using a telescope at the South Pole to make detailed observations of a small patch of sky.

The aim has been to try to find a residual marker for "inflation" - the idea that the cosmos experienced an exponential growth spurt in its first trillionth, of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second.

Theory holds that this would have taken the infant Universe from something unimaginably small to something about the size of a marble. Space has continued to expand for the nearly 14 billion years since.

Inflation was first proposed in the early 1980s to explain some aspects of Big Bang Theory that appeared to not quite add up, such as why deep space looks broadly the same on all sides of the sky. The contention was that a very rapid expansion early on could have smoothed out any unevenness.

But inflation came with a very specific prediction - that it would be associated with waves of gravitational energy, and that these ripples in the fabric of space would leave an indelible mark on the oldest light in the sky - the famous Cosmic Microwave Background.

The BICEP2 team says it has now identified that signal. Scientists call it B-mode polarisation. It is a characteristic twist in the directional properties of the CMB. Only the gravitational waves moving through the Universe in its inflationary phase could have produced such a marker. It is a true "smoking gun".

Speaking at the press conference to announce the results, Prof John Kovac of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and a leader of the BICEP2 collaboration, said: "This is opening a window on what we believe to be a new regime of physics - the physics of what happened in the first unbelievably tiny fraction of a second in the Universe."

Completely astounded

The signal is reported to be quite a bit stronger than many scientists had dared hope. This simplifies matters, say experts. It means the more exotic models for how inflation worked are no longer tenable.

The results also constrain the energies involved - at 10,000 trillion gigaelectronvolts. This is consistent with ideas for what is termed Grand Unified Theory, the realm where particle physicists believe three of the four fundamental forces in nature can be tied together.

But by associating gravitational waves with an epoch when quantum effects were so dominant, scientists are improving their prospects of one day pulling the fourth force - gravity itself - into a Theory of Everything.

The sensational nature of the discovery means the BICEP2 data will be subjected to intense peer review.

It is possible for the interaction of CMB light with dust in our galaxy to produce a similar effect, but the BICEP2 group says it has carefully checked its data over the past three years to rule out such a possibility.

Other experiments will now race to try to replicate the findings. If they can, a Nobel Prize seems assured for this field of research.

Who this would go to is difficult to say, but leading figures on the BICEP2 project and the people who first formulated inflationary theory would be in the running.

One of those pioneers, Prof Alan Guth from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the BBC: "I have been completely astounded. I never believed when we started that anybody would ever measure the non-uniformities of the CMB, let alone the polarisation, which is now what we are seeing.

"I think it is absolutely amazing that it can be measured and also absolutely amazing that it can agree so well with inflation and also the simplest models of inflation - nature did not have to be so kind and the theory didn't have to be right."

British scientist Dr Jo Dunkley, who has been searching through data from the European Planck space telescope for a B-mode signal, commented: "I can't tell you how exciting this is. Inflation sounds like a crazy idea, but everything that is important, everything we see today - the galaxies, the stars, the planets - was imprinted at that moment, in less than a trillionth of a second. If this is confirmed, it's huge."
Click to expand...

B-Bob · Mar 17, 2014

I could stare at this polarization map all day. It's just so gorgeous..

(from the BBC link)

I for one am surprised if a straightforward model of inflation is correct... it's really, really big news for astrophysics.

CrazyDave · Mar 17, 2014

I, for one, welcome our new blurry twister overlords.

conquistador#11 · Mar 17, 2014

so our masters are into abstract art? good to know.

Zboy · Mar 17, 2014

So many things wrong with this study that dont even know where to start.

rimrocker · Mar 17, 2014

Theory holds that this would have taken the infant Universe from something unimaginably small to something about the size of a marble. Space has continued to expand for the nearly 14 billion years since.
Click to expand...

All this fuss for a marble sized chunk of stuff?

rimrocker · Mar 17, 2014

From WaPost article on the same subject:

The inflationary model implies that our universe is exceedingly larger than what we currently observe, which is humbling already in its scale. Moreover, the vacuum energy that drove the inflationary process would presumably imply the existence of a larger cosmos, or “multiverse,” of which our universe is but a granular element.

“These ideas about the multiverse become interesting to me only when theories come up with testable predictions based on them,” Kovac said Monday. “The powerful thing about the basic inflationary paradigm is that it did offer us this clear, testable prediction: the existence of gravitational waves which are directly linked to the exponential expansion that’s intrinsic to the theory.”

The cosmological models favored by scientists do not permit us to have contact with other potential universes. The multiverse is, for now, conjectural, because it is not easily subject to experimental verification and is unobservable — from the South Pole or from anywhere else.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...dfc-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html?hpid=z1
Click to expand...

James Gabriel · Mar 17, 2014

There goes the galactic economy.

Qball · Mar 17, 2014

Zboy said: ↑

So many things wrong with this study that dont even know where to start.
Click to expand...

How about you start at the dashed line on row 28 and column 17 of the polarization map...

ChankMcStank · Mar 17, 2014

Theory holds that this would have taken the infant Universe from something unimaginably small to something about the size of a marble. Space has continued to expand for the nearly 14 billion years since.
Click to expand...

Like OP's mom then?

Yonkers · Mar 18, 2014

This sort of stuff fascinates me but I have no idea what this is all about.

nickb492 · Mar 18, 2014

I was interested in this thread and article, but halfway through my mind just started doing this....

Awesome · Mar 18, 2014

Yonkers said: ↑

This sort of stuff fascinates me but I have no idea what this is all about.
Click to expand...

Means there are still more questions than answers to be honest

rhadamanthus · Mar 18, 2014

Zboy said: ↑

So many things wrong with this study that dont even know where to start.
Click to expand...

shastarocket · Mar 18, 2014

Really cool video of the professor finding out about the breakthrough

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZlfIVEy_YOA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Harrisment · Mar 18, 2014

shastarocket said: ↑

Really cool video of the professor finding out about the breakthrough

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZlfIVEy_YOA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Click to expand...

Very cool!

CrazyDave · Mar 18, 2014

What if.... What if....? Yes.

Great video.

boomboom · Mar 18, 2014

More importantly, will this news help get more booty in my bass?

LonghornFan · Mar 18, 2014

Jesus is gonna be so pissed off. You don't even know.

Deckard · Mar 18, 2014

Wow! This is freakin' mind blowing. I've read about this, and like a lot of you not named B-Bob, am having hell wrestling with the concept. I'm a huge science fiction fan, and have been reading speculative fiction for over 50 years. You'd think I could imagine this stuff in a coherent fashion by now! ;-)-

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[Science] Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed

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[Science] Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed

BDswangHTX Member

B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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